Weighing the pros and cons: here’s what you need to know about a Bordeaux subscription

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fQbOYE”>

Every year, Bordeaux subscription offers are offered to wine lovers. The idea behind this is simple: Today you buy and pay for selected Bordeaux wines from the new vintage, and they are delivered in about two years.

For consumers, subscription means protection against any price increases as soon as bottled wines are released. On the other hand, wineries today already receive payment for their wine and can immediately use the money received, for example, for investments.

Subscription has other benefits as well

On the one hand, there will be the possibility of purchasing special bottle formats. Half bottle or larger formats are offered roughly proportional to regular bottles during a subscription. For a 1.5 liter magnum you pay about twice as much as a regular 0.75 liter bottle. As soon as bottled wines hit the market, specialty formats are usually relatively more expensive and harder to find.

A major advantage of the subscription is the increased security against counterfeiting in wine. Wines reach the final customer directly from the chateau through intermediaries, with all steps documented. That’s why it’s worth subscribing, especially for more expensive wines like Grand Cru Classé wines.

A psychological benefit of subscribed Bordeaux wines is the expectation of delivery. You can look forward to a whole year in which you will smell the new wooden crates for the first time and taste the wines in the fruit stage. Expectation is known as the greatest happiness, so this aspect should not be overlooked.

Watch out for these disadvantages

The evaluation of Bordeaux wine available for subscription is based on a barrel sample of several months. Wine critics can roughly classify wine quality, but because the wines are still so young, a definitive assessment is rarely possible. If you want to be on the safe side, you better wait until the bottled wines are rated.

Instead of having the money blocked for two years, you can invest and earn interest. With a Bordeaux subscription, this option is taken from you. Also, market prices of bottled wines are no longer automatically higher than subscriptions. Prices may be even lower for some wines and some wines.

But what if the wine shop you chose goes bankrupt while you wait, or you do something else with your money instead of buying the promised wine? If you decide to subscribe, choose only companies you know and are established in the industry.

Source : Blick