Wine futures, or En Primeur, probably sound like they are supposed to trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or another futures exchange. While the term “futures” is used, wine futures are quite different than purchasing futures contracts on oil, gold, copper and other commodities. Still, this is a financial contract whereby the buyer is committing to pay a fixed price at a set time to take delivery of a commodity — bottles of wine in this case.

The question that has to be asked is whether or not wine futures make for a good investment or whether these should just be purchased by oenophiles who covet the coming releases. The answer will depend on many factors, but there are instances where wine futures assure that fine wine connoisseurs will get to own great wines in the future and where they can make a profit buying wine futures.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. Wine and whisky definitely fall into the category of collectibles, and spending $10,000 to $100,000 for a rare or top quality bottle is far easier to do than most people might imagine.

The act of buying wine futures is not any more complicated than this — you are getting to buy wine that is still in the barrel at the vineyard for future delivery. Weather and a whole host of other factors play into whether or not an entire year’s regional vintage is scored higher or lower by wine critics and industry insiders. These opinions are issued despite wine not being ready for release for another two years or three years.

Again, this can appeal to people who want to own the top wines for consumption and to those who want to invest in wine. There are of course risks, but the potential rewards are also obvious. And here is the greatest news of all — you do not have to be a millionaire or billionaire to buy wine futures, and you don’t even have to go open a brokerage account with endless amounts of paperwork.

Bordeaux Wine Futures are the feature here. If you head down to your local wine store in a major city it’s pretty easy to spend well over $1,000 for a top wine from a good wine vintage (the year it was harvested). The good vintages of Petrus (Pomerol), Chateau Latour (Pauillac), Chateau Mouton Rothschild (Pauillac) and many others can easily cost $2,000 to $6,000 per standard 750ml bottle that you can take home on the spot.

The website TheWineCellarInsider has ranked the best Bordeaux vintages for Pomerol and Saint Emilion by year, as follows: 2018, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2010, 2005, 2000. This will matter when it comes to some of the wine futures that are still available in the summer of 2021 and when compared to some offerings from Total Wine that are available at the present time.

The website wine.com offers Bordeaux Wine Futures by the bottle. The 2019 vintages are not expected to be ready for delivery until late in 2022 and most of the 2020 vintage wines will not be ready for delivery until late in 2023. A Chateau Lafite Rothschild (6-Pack OWC Futures Pre-Sale) for 2020 is offered on wine.com for the price of $4,199.97, or about $700 per bottle. A single bottle from Total Wine was last seen for sale at $1,499.99 for a 2005 vintage Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac.

Matching up available wines today with wine futures is not always an apples-to-apples comparison. First off, the wine that has been sampled by the experts has not gone through its aging process. It has also not gone through the delivery process. Some vintages which are expected to be great simply under-deliver as they age.

A futures pre-sale of the Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2020 vintage (for delivery in late 2023) was available on Wine.com for $699.97. Its lowest score was 97 and its highest score was 100 on the typical 100-point scale.

The website for Robert Parker has also given an evaluation of the Top 20 Scoring Wines for 2019 Bordeaux Futures.

Vinovest is one of the websites that makes investing in wine easier for oenophiles and investors alike. As for the 2020 vintage Bordeaux futures, the team has opined that this year’s futures will be priced substantially lower than prior years and that this is offering investors greater upside on future returns. In fact, Vinovest called this global pandemic as presenting “a once in a decade opportunity.” To back up their data, Vinovest even represents that wine has outperformed the S&P 500 by 1,000% over the last 20 years.

Sotheby’s (New York) also offers its 2020 En Primeur selection with bottles from well under $100 up to $695 (Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac). You can visit their entire Sotheby’s collection in New York City, but fair warning that you will probably wish you could spend the night in their retail wine store with a corkscrew and a free pass to try all you want.

Collectors Dashboard would advise its readers that there are many other websites which offer access to Bordeaux Wine Futures and for investing in wine (and whisky). This is our first of many articles dedicated solely to Bordeaux Wine Futures.

Whether investing or collecting, wine buyers have to also factor in items for future years such as tariffs, duties and taxes. Currency fluctuations, economic conditions and overall international trade relations around the world (such as buying from China) can also impact futures pricing from year to year.

Taking physical delivery of fine wine for investing purposes comes with its own set of challenges. Shipping wine can be expensive, and wine can be damaged if it remains exposed to weather that is too hot or too cold. The wine then also has to kept in set temperatures for aging and preservation, and knowing when a wine is peaking is paramount for collectors and investors alike. Collectors Dashboard has already demonstrated that damaged wine labels can also hurt the value of a bottle. And unlike collectibles of sports cards, coins, stamps and art, there is no temptation to put those in your mouth to enjoy in a new and immediate way.