Grape & Grain | The futures of European and US wines for customers and buyers
Like Bordeaux’s en primeur offerings, many wine areas and producers hold tastings of young wines before they are released
Bordeaux is known the world over for its en primeur – “wine futures” tastings, when the latest vintage is put under the spotlight by critics and wine buyers who taste, spit, then decide what to buy before the wines are actually released.
But this is simply the best known of the many tastings of young wines that are held by producers across Europe.
One of my favourites takes place each January in France. This is one of the hidden highlights of the year – seriously, it should be much more widely celebrated – when the Rhone Valley holds its Marché aux Vins d’Ampuis for the red wines of Côte Rotie and the whites of Condrieu. This is a celebration of the northern Rhone, and winemakers bring along an array of their latest vintages for both professionals and customers to taste and buy direct. The wines are often set up alongside local truffle, meat and cheese producers, and 2016 saw its 88th version, making it considerably older than its Bordeaux sibling. I don’t know of a better way to beat the chill of a northern Rhone winter.
In fact Burgundy, Piedmont, Ribero del Duero and Rioja all have their own version of young wine tasting, but one of the most fascinating isn’t in Europe at all, but in California. Known as Premiere Napa Valley, this is a futures campaign with a difference. The winemakers – top flight – we are talking the Cains, the Duckhorns, the Stag’s Leaps of the Napa world – don’t simply preview the latest vintage that is going to be sold in bottle to all customers, but create blends specifically for an event that is held in February each year. These are limited edition, exclusive tastings out of barrel, with most producers making wine that will be enough for somewhere between 60 and 240 bottles.
I went to Napa last week for the 20th edition of the auction, held at the Culinary Institute of America, and which was the first where a section of the bidding took place online. Just 25 of the 225 lots were available online, each selling only to online bidders, so no “real” against virtual bidding.