If you are at all interested in premium wines of the world, you've no doubt heard about what many are calling the greatest vintage of Bordeaux in history with the release of of the 2005 vintage. Is this much ado about nothing? Not if you are even a semi-serious wine buff. 2005 Bordeaux not only boasts arguably the greatest vintage ever, it also marks a time when prices and interest of these coveted wines have skyrocketed to atmospheric proportions worldwide beyond any established precedent.

The french created a selling technique called "en premier" AKA: First offering, to help them market and allocate (or distribute) the world's share of these prestigious wines. The system enables the producers (vineyard owners) to sell the wines as "futures" to the world before the wines are even bottled, let alone released to the open market. This leaves much speculation from vintage to vintage about quality since buying "en premier" means you have to pay upfront for wines that will not be in your hands for at least two years.

There is a potential for both risk and reward with this process. For instance, for a vintage which eventually is considered great, buying these futures typically means you get the wines for the very best price and without the effort of hunting them down when released to the open market. When the rest of the unsecured wines are actually released to the public, the prices may have doubled from that of the en premier prices. However, if it ends up being a weak vintage, or one which is rated poorly by the wine critics of the world, then buying en premier holds the potential for spending even more for the wines than you could get upon public release, or at the very least, tying up your cash for two years. Here in New Hampshire, we don't offer futures in our outlet stores, but, we are effectively buying them on our customer's behalf and offering them at the best prices we possibly can.

As for the 2005 vintage Bordeaux, it has the wine world spinning on more than just its axis. Though it may be difficult to compare past great vintages to modern ones, one thing can be said with certainty; with the addition of modern wine-making equipment, techniques and in general, viticultural practices, great vintages show themselves far more frequently than in the past. Some experts will say that in a region such as Bordeaux, it would be fairly difficult to make a poor wine even with problematic conditions. That being said, a great vintage such as 2005's which saw almost perfect climatic conditions for an optimal growing season has little chance at being anything but great. As for how great; well, that is a question for time and subjectivity.

As one of the two buyers for the NH Liquor Commission, trying to secure the desired amount and specific wines of 2005 Bordeaux a couple of years ago was kind of like buying party supplies for a huge gathering before you knew what the actual price the grand ballroom would be. When wines are offered en premier, generally, they are offered in such a way that you see the less expensive wines first and place your orders accordingly with a plan for what your eventual order will be. This is usually done over the course of eight or nine weeks. Depending on your overall commitment along the way, when the most important (and expensive) wines are finally offered, you must react very quickly to secure the wines with the most demand. However, it seems there's never enough to go around for the most elite wines. Each vineyard makes a finite amount of cases and they vary from producer to producer. Even if you want to buy 100 cases of the renowned and revered Chateau Petrus, you will likely end up with just a few cases (or even just a few bottles) as distributors around the country must spread their allocations to their best clients and try to keep everyone happy.

The good news for our customers is that we have secured roughly 3,500 cases of 2005 Bordeaux with prices ranging from low-teens up to, well, quite a bit more than that- with a phenomenal selection in between. The wines will be released simultaneously at several planned events around the state so please watch our Website or sign up for email alerts in any of our store locations to gain more information and updated on our release of this heralded vintage.

Our 2005 Bordeaux selections will feature both magnificent and long-lived wines as well as everyday guiltless pleasures. Be a part of this history and join us for one of our exciting 2005 Bordeaux release events to be scheduled in early to mid-June. Hope to see you there!