Last week, I wrote about the best wines from the 2009 vintage that I sampled at the Bordeaux en primeur (wine futures) tastings, which took place earlier this month. This annual event sees buyers from all around the world descend on Bordeaux in France to taste the new vintage, whose grapes were picked, pressed and fermented only months before, and which are still ageing in their barrels.
It takes some skill to taste these wines and predict what they'll be like in a year or two, after they've been bottled and released. But it gives buyers the opportunity to secure an allotment for some wines with large demand but limited supply.
Not everyone buys these wines solely for quality - some people see them as an investment. Bordeaux prices are usually at their lowest when purchased en primeur; the price goes up once the wines are bottled, and if you buy a top vintage (as this 2009 seems to be), the wines can fetch top dollar many years down the line. The en primeur release price of the 2008 vintage of first growth Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild has already risen by close to 80 per cent, and these wines won't be bottled for another year.
The wines I'm recommending for investment purposes are a mix of the recognisable, big names (which always sell well), and up-and-coming chateaux. In this second category, the 2008 en primeur prices show zero or little increase on their prices now, but are likely to sell for more when bottled next year.
Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac (first growth)
This wine has more than proved its worth as an investment over the past few years - even during the financial collapse of September 2008, its dip was more shallow and its rise faster than any other wine. According to trading company Liv-ex, the average rise of Lafite for all vintages from 2000, measured by the difference between the initial price and then three years later, stands at 54 per cent. The 'second wine' (using grapes considered not perfect enough for the main wine) from the same property, Carruades de Lafite, has proved even more successful (a staggering 133 per cent rise over three years), and the 2009 is likely to be no different.