En Primeur FAQs

Buying wines ‘En Primeur’ or ‘In Bond’ is the process of purchasing a wine before it has been bottled and released to market. The upfront cost of the wine is exclusive of VAT, duty and delivery. These extra charges are then due once the wine lands in our warehouse. Depending on the country and / or region of the wine, it may be shipped to the UK anywhere from three months to three years from the date of purchase. The wine will be released by the producer when they deem it ready for shipping, and this is dedined individually for each château. 

Perhaps the most compelling reason to buy En Primeur is the considerable discount available. Many of our campaigns are sold at around 30% less than the market release price of that particular wine. It can also work as a way to ‘reserve’ a case of a particular wine where availability may be limited. Many wines that châteaux release En Primeur might not be available to buy when they are released some years later, or are far more expensive; this means that you are more likely to secure an allocation of a potentially rare, highly sought-after wine, which may be produced in very small quantities. Depending on what the châteaux are offering, you may have an option to specify the bottle size you would like; halves, magnums or larger. It also guarantees the absolute best provenance of your wines, direct from the winery.

En Primeur wines are released by the chateau some time after the campaign. For Bordeaux for example, the 2018 vintage will be offered in spring 2019 and will arrive in the UK at the end of 2020 or in spring 2021.

The cost of the wine is paid when the En Primeur campaign is opened in order to secure the wine. Duty, VAT and delivery are then paid when the wine arrives in the country following its release from the Chateaux.

Duty:

£2.23 per 75cl bottle of still wine
£2.86 per 75cl bottle of sparkling wine
£2.98 per 75cl bottle of port or fortified wine

Delivery - £7.50 (ex. VAT) – added after VAT. 

UK VAT – 20% on the cost of the wine and the duty

(Wine + Duty + Delivery) x VAT = Total Cost of case of wine on release 

(Please note that these charges are subject to government change) 

Delivery is charged in this instance because, unlike our other wines, we do not build the cost of delivery into the price. This means that a flat rate of £7.50 is charged per case on all EP orders.

Unfortunately not since the wines are already sold at a discount and our margin is small. 

Yes. When the wines arrive at London City Bond, they can be stored ‘Under Bond’ meaning that duty, VAT and delivery do not need to be paid until you are ready to take delivery. However, if you do wish to have them stored, we will ask for our standard storage charge of £10 per case of 12 x 75 cl bottles, (£6 per 1/2 case or fewer) ex-VAT per year as soon as they arrive at the warehouse.

This depends on numerous factors: vintage, producer, region and country. Much of Bordeaux châteaux, for example, tend to ship their wines around 18 months after purchase whilst the Rhône is normally around 12 months. 

This isn’t a problem, when we contact you for duty and VAT payment, we will also give you the option to choose a different delivery address or give us additional instructions.

On our initial purchase of EP wines we are given an estimate release date by producers. Unfortunately, we are slightly at their mercy as to when they consider it ready to release. This could be down to them wanting to give it more time in bottle or perhaps they may not want to ship it in during the summer, for example.

En Primeur wines can be ordered by case only.

Yes, depending on whether the Château in question chooses to produce them.

We will remain responsible for insuring your wine at the original invoice value until the wines are delivered to you. Ownership of the wines will pass on settlement of all outstanding charges.