Léoville Las Cases Launches Bordeaux’s Futures Campaign with a Big Price Drop—Will the Wines Entice Buyers?

The premise of Bordeaux en primeurs is fairly simple: The top wineries of the region sell futures the spring after harvest, while the wines are still aging in barrels. They get cash up front to help them cover production costs. The négociants—as well as the retailers, restaurants and consumers they sell the futures to—get first dibs on the wine, theoretically at a lower price than when it’s bottled and released two years later.

There’s five numbers that shatter this concept however—2022, 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017. According to Liv-Ex, a London-based marketplace that tracks collectible wines, the current prices of the top 500 Bordeaux estates from those five vintages are all below their futures prices. Only the 2019 vintage has proven a worthwhile investment for Bordeaux consumers.

So do the châteaus need to change their approach if they hope for the 2023 vintage campaign to succeed? And will they?

Bordeaux May Not Need Futures Anymore

For several years now, there has been growing evidence the top names in Bordeaux see futures less as a sales campaign and more as a marketing opportunity that allows them to set their price benchmarks. Prices have continued to climb, despite the ups and downs of the global economy. At the same time, château owners are reducing the amount of wine they release as futures. Once they were desperate for cash flow—now they have enough money to age the wine and sell most of it years later, when demand is higher. Château Latour left the futures process entirely in 2012.

Despite the rising prices and diminishing returns, the négociants have continued to buy futures each year. Their motivation has been to hold on to their allotments from the top wineries.

But the négociants may not be able to play that game any longer. Their inventory is at record levels. The pandemic and its aftermath have hurt their bottom lines. And château owners seem to have finally realized this. “The négociants don’t have the money,” one prominent estate director in the Médoc told Wine Spectator. “They are not going to buy their allotments to hold stock this year. That is absolutely clear.”

Do Consumers Need Bordeaux Futures Anymore?

The early buzz from Bordeaux is that the 2023 wines are outstanding but not earth-shattering. There’s also word that this year’s campaign will be efficient and prices will come down. Will they drop enough to entice American consumers who no longer need to buy Bordeaux, when there are hundreds of outstanding luxury wines available from regions like Burgundy, Barolo, the Rhône and California? That’s the big question.

While some industry insiders suggested prices could fall dramatically, others offered a word of caution. “For Château Beychevelle, the primeur price is always, and will remain, the cheapest the market can get. So in 2023 our price will be lower than 2022,” said Philippe Blanc, general manager of Beychevelle. “But what it will not be is 30 to 35 percent lower, as expected by some of the trade. We have a fair idea of a price that is absolutely acceptable and that our clients would not reject.”

In coming weeks, Wine Spectator will report and analyze the latest releases from Bordeaux, compare them to past vintages available now and see how sincere the châteaus are in their plans to woo back wine consumers.

Château Pontet-Canet has major investments in the vineyard and cellar, and prices have risen. This year’s release brings a price drop. (Alain Benoit)

April 30: Léoville Las Cases and Pontet-Canet Start the Campaign

The campaign entered like a lion bearing discounts—Château Léoville Las Cases released its 2023 futures at €138 per bottle ex-négociant, a 40 percent decrease on the 2022 release price of €230 per bottle. Leading U.S. retailers are offering the 2023 for $181 a bottle, $2,172 a case, a 50 percent decrease from the 2022. That puts the wine, which has not been reviewed yet, well below recent vintages on the market.

Château Pontet-Canet has been aggressive on pricing in recent years, but the winery released its futures at €66 per bottle ex-négociant, down 26.7 percent on the 2022 release of €90. Leading retailers are offering 2023 futures at $91 a bottle, or $1,092 per case, a 27 percent decrease from the 2022s.

Is this a sign of a serious effort by Bordeaux to offer value? That depends on whether other top names follow suit.

2023 Futures Prices

These estates represent a selection of leading wineries. Retail prices are an average of trusted retailers we follow. Prices for the 2023s are listed alongside the current prevailing retail price for Bordeaux’s recent vintages, so you can measure where the wines are vis-à-vis those currently on retail shelves.

Data compiled by Cassia Schifter

$NA means a wine has not been released or is not sold in sufficient quantities by U.S. retailers yet to determine an average price.

With reporting by Suzanne Mustacich.

Learn more about the 2023 vintage with Wine Spectator senior editor James Molesworth’s tastings of barrel samples at leading châteaus.