The 2018 Wine Week is coming. Are you ready?

The annual 2018 wine week is in full swing. As an annual Bordeaux event, the wine week has been attracting the attention of the industry. Before each winery announces the price of 2017 vintage wine, it is better to know what the vintage wine is and the overview of Bordeaux 2017 vintage!

Q1: What is wine?
Period wine also known as "hops", it actually refers to the early purchase of wine. In the spring of the second year after the grape picking, the wines of the Bordeaux Chateau have been put into oak barrels. At this time, major international wine critics, journalists and buyers will gather in Bordeaux for a barrel-side trial. Subsequently, the winery will publish the price of the wine, in the form of futures, according to the quota system to sell part of the current year's wine to the wine merchants.

Buyers pay before they finally get the wine. Once the wine arrives, customers can choose to pick it up immediately or store the wine in a heated warehouse until it is sold again. The purchase of futures wine usually takes 2-3 years to receive the goods. In short, it is to use today's money to buy tomorrow's wine.

Q2: Why is there a period of wine?
After World War II, many Bordeaux wineries were destroyed, coupled with the continued devaluation of the franc, the Bordeaux region needed a lot of money to restore and rebuild. The wine produced at that time needs to be stored for at least two years after production to achieve a slightly better taste. In this way, although there are good wines, wineries cannot sell them immediately after brewing.

As a result, the wine merchants proposed to let the winery sell some of the wine in advance at a slightly lower price, so that there would be cash back.
Although the winemakers at that time had the initiative in pricing, even so, the winery was still willing to obtain funds in advance to maintain the operation of the next year. This is the initial wine system.

Q3: Advantages and Disadvantages of Period Wine
For wineries, the risk of a bad vintage can be effectively minimized through the term wine trade. It can also bring a lot of money back to the winery and ease the financial pressure of the winery.

As a kind of wine presale system, since the price of the wine is the first round of price for the wine of that year to enter the market, without going through the market cycle, wine merchants can buy wine in advance at a preferential price to reduce the cost of purchasing wine. At the same time, investors can also profit from it and earn room for appreciation, so the period wine system is widely welcomed. However, period wine also contains risks, such as changes in wine quality, price and market trends, and exchange rate changes, which are all uncertain factors.

Q4: How did the wine perform in 2017 years?
The 2017 Bordeaux production area can be described as a mixed blessing. Because in April, Bordeaux experienced the worst frost since 1945, the total output decreased by about 40% compared with the same period last year, about 33% lower than the average output in the past 10 years, and even in some plots and producers with poor slopes, there is a phenomenon of no grain harvest.

However, although God has given wine many challenges, they have used their wisdom, experience and winemaking skills to overcome these disadvantages as much as possible. Some wineries use heaters or fires to raise the temperature in the grape fields, while others use helicopter airflow to reduce frost formation from cold air. As for the harvest, everyone is very careful, even in the same field to distinguish grapes according to maturity, several batches of harvest.

Under their careful care, the weather in 2017 was very difficult, and everyone was worried. Although the output of the winery may not be large, the quality of most wineries is excellent.

Famous wine critic James Suckling has tasted and scored more than 770 2017 vintage wines from Bordeaux. For Bordeaux Left Bank wines, he thought 2017 vintage was "surprising" and gave some Bordeaux wines as high as 96-99 points. For example, Digan Manor ("so pure but very stylish") and Latour Manor ("great, absolutely classic Bordeaux"), which scored the highest scores.

pay attention to the purchase of wine:
1) Look at the year: Although with the development of technology, winemakers have more methods and tools to compensate for the impact of weather factors on wine. But for investors, the year still matters. The vintage of the wine is also closely related to the aging ability, and the excellent vintage wine has more room for appreciation in the future.
2) Look at the score: Every year during the wine week, many big players in the industry will score the wine evaluation. Today's mainstream rating agencies are "Wine Spectator" (Wine Spectator), "Wine Enthusiast" (Wine), "Alcohol" (Decanter) and other magazines and James (James Suckling) and other wine critics.
3) Picking wine merchants: Since the winery only sells period wines to wine merchants, it is difficult for individuals to buy expired wines from the winery. At this time, you need to choose carefully. Pay attention to choose wine merchants with good credit and a long business history. A high-quality wine merchant can minimize investment risks and can also maximize the preservation of wine during transportation.

Junde Wine Futures Wine

As one of the largest traders of Bordeaux wine in the world, Junde wine industry has maintained a successful and reliable trading history over the years, and has maintained good relations with local manor owners and wine merchants, and has a very good professional reputation and service level.

In order to ensure that the futures wines purchased by customers can always be kept in the best condition, we are also equipped with a large constant temperature, moisturizing, and simulation wine cellar warehouse to ensure that the wines are stored at the right temperature and humidity. The professional wine storage warehouse in Hong Kong has passed the authoritative certification of the Hong Kong Quality Administration (HKQAA) and covers an area of more than 50,000 square feet. The best logistics company ensures that the wine is taken care of in the logistics process.