The Bordaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours typically begins in Bordeaux City in the afternoon. We meet at the hotel, visit an estate in the viccinity of Bordeaux City and a negociant house and finish the day with dinner in Bordeaux city.
This year, on the Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, we went to Château Haut-Bailly, Graves, Appellation Pessac-Léognan, Grand Cru Classé, toured the Millésima Negociant House and had dinner at Restaurant L’Estacade in Bordeaux City, which literally sits on the Garonne river opposite of Bordeaux City center.
At Millésima over two million bottles of top Bordeaux wines are stored and waiting to be shipped. In Bordeaux wine merchants have always played a decisive part in the wine world. The buying and selling of wine, the setting of a price of a bottle of wine from a specific chateau for a specific vintage, the entire conduct of business is described as „La Place de Bordeaux“.
Millésima is conveniently located just on the other side of the street of our hotel.
This was a fitting introduction to “Bordeaux”.
See also:
How Does the Negociant System in Bordeaux Work? Tour and Tasting at Millésima - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France
Bordeaux - En Primeur, Negociants, Courtiers, the Quai de Chartons and the Place de Bordeaux– A Short Introduction
Place de Bordeaux and En Primeur
The way the top producers of Bordeaux sell their wines to their customers all around the world differs strikingly from the way their colleagues in other countries or even in Bordeaux do.
Wine maker Doug Fabbioli from Fabbioli Cellars in Virginia, for example, sells the wine he produces during the course of the year to the consumers who show up at his winery and by the wine directly from him. Wine maker Ernst Loosen from Dr. Loosen in the Mosel Valley in Germany, whose wines are available all over the world, works, I assume, with wholesalers in Germany as well as with importers from all over the world, who buy the wine from him during the course of the year. The wines of both Doug Fabbioli and Ernst Loosen are sold after the wines have been bottled and are ready to be consumed.
Picture: The Quai de Chartons (Painting at Millésima)
The way the system works for the premium Bordeaux wines is different. And it is unique in the world. The wines are sold well before they are bottled (en primeur system) and the wines are sold and distributed to the world through negociants (Place de Bordeaux).
Buying Bordeaux wines en primeur is like buying commodity futures, with cash laid down now for later delivery of something that does not yet exist as a finished product. The futures reach the consumer through a series of phases.
Today, there are 400 négociants on the Place de Bordeaux, and most labels are purchased by an average of 40. Each chateau works with a different number of negociants. Some properties work with 5 different negociants, others work with over 100.
I provided an overview of the system here: Bordeaux - En Primeur, Negociants, Courtiers, the Quai de Chartons and the Place de Bordeaux– A Short Introduction. Go there for more information.
Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France (Published and Forthcoming Postings)
Total Immersion in Bordeaux: World Class Wines and Exquisite French Gourmet Cuisine - Bordeaux Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours, France
Total Immersion in Bordeaux: World Class Wines and Exquisite French Gourmet Cuisine - Bordeaux Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours, France
Total Immersion in Bordeaux: World Class Wines and Exquisite French Gourmet Cuisine - Bordeaux Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours, France
Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France
Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Bordeaux Wine Tour 2013 by ombiasy
Bordeaux Wines and their Classifications: The Basics
The 5 Premiers Grands Crus Chateaux en 1855 of Bordeaux, France
What is a Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois? France
Tour and Tasting at Château Haut-Bailly, Graves, Appellation Pessac-Léognan, Grand Cru Classé - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France
Tour and Wine Dinner at Château Haut-Bailly, Graves, Appellation Pessac-Léognan, Grand Cru Classé - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2017, France
How does the Negociant System in Bordeaux work? Tour at the Negociant Millésima - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France
How Does the Negociant System in Bordeaux Work? Tour and Tasting at Millésima - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France
Bordeaux - En Primeur, Negociants, Courtiers, the Quai de Chartons and the Place de Bordeaux– A Short Introduction
Dinner with a View: At Restaurant L’Estacade in Bordeaux City - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France
Dinner with a View: At Restaurant L’Estacade in Bordeaux City - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France
Schiller’s Favorite Wine Bars in Bordeaux City - An Update
Schiller’s Favorite Seafood Places in Bordeaux City, France - An Update
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