2026-06-23
Only a small group of Bordeaux châteaux set 2025 en primeur prices low enough to stand out against older vintages already on the market, according to WineCap, which said the campaign was largely a missed chance despite strong wine quality.
In a report on Bordeaux En Primeur 2025, WineCap said that out of about 130 “commercially significant” investment-grade wines released this year, fewer than 10 producers “truly responded” to calls from the trade for more attractive pricing. The firm said buyers focused less on critic scores than on a simpler question: whether the 2025 release was cheaper than comparable back vintages available for immediate purchase.
WineCap chief executive Alexander Westgarth identified Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Cheval Blanc, Léoville Las Cases, Château Margaux and Château Ducru-Beaucaillou among the estates that offered what he described as sensible buying opportunities.
The report highlighted Lafite Rothschild as one of the clearest successes. WineCap said the estate came to market relatively early and at an attractive level compared with physical back vintages such as 2016 and 2018, while still carrying a critical profile that could compete with both years.
Ducru-Beaucaillou was also cited for releasing its 2025 ex-négociant price at the same level as its lower-rated 2024 last year. WineCap said that decision strengthened the value case for the new vintage against available stocks from 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Léoville Las Cases, one of the later releases in the campaign, also gained momentum by pricing its 2025 below physical vintages from 2018, 2019 and 2020, according to the firm. That visible discount created an immediate incentive for buyers, WineCap said, adding that this was the kind of pricing strategy many merchants had hoped to see more broadly across Bordeaux.
Adrian Brice, head of buying at WineCap, said the estates that performed best were those that adapted to current market conditions and priced with the end customer in mind. He said that approach was key to rebuilding engagement with en primeur.
WineCap’s investment team argued that the most relevant benchmarks for the highly rated 2025 vintage are not weaker recent years but stronger ones already trading in bottle, including 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2016. Martin Pruszynski, the firm’s head of investment, said that if buyers can purchase a celebrated 2018 or 2019 with five or six years of bottle age for less than a new 2025 release, then the older wine is likely to be the better investment.
He pointed to Château Ausone as one example, saying its physical 2019 vintage is currently almost 10% cheaper than the 2025 release. He said similar patterns appeared at Palmer and Pavie, where discounts on back vintages of 10% to 20% left little economic reason for collectors to buy early. In cases where pricing did not make sense, he said, WineCap chose not to offer the wines as investments.
The findings matter beyond collectors because the gap between en primeur prices and back-vintage market prices can shape demand across the wine trade and influence how producers and négociants manage stock. If new releases are not clearly competitive, merchants may steer buyers toward older vintages already in circulation instead of committing capital to futures.
WineCap also said lower production helped explain why some estates resisted deeper cuts. The firm noted that the 2025 harvest produced 291m liters, the lowest yield since 1991, compared with a five-year average from 2021 through 2025 of 359m liters. Westgarth said that smaller volumes changed the value equation and created a different market dynamic from a larger crop.
He added that scarcity appeared especially important for estates such as Château Margaux and Château Cheval Blanc and was likely one reason some producers did not make the level of reductions many in the trade had hoped for.