How Wine Services Supports Estates During the En Primeur Campaign.

A strategic campaign for Bordeaux estates

En Primeur is a pivotal moment for Bordeaux producers. From April 14-17, 2025, Bordeaux hosts En Primeur Week 2025, where estates present their 2024 vintage - still aging - through tastings by wine professionals, the Place de Bordeaux, and the specialist press. The system, established in 1970 by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, lets châteaux sell their wine "in advance," before bottling - an essential financial lever.

But beyond the commercial angle, why is En Primeur so strategic? For estates, it's a chance to capture cash early and get a fast read on demand and valuation. For négociants and distributors, it's the moment to plan supply and refine their go-to-market. And for collectors and enthusiasts, it's access to sought-after cuvées at prices that are often more attractive than on release.

After tasting week, prices typically start coming out two to three weeks later - châteaux reveal them from mid-May over a three-to-four-week window. It's a decisive phase that calls for precise pricing and a real grasp of the market. Setting a coherent pricing policy, analyzing your position against competitors, and anticipating market expectations are all crucial to a successful campaign.

Sharper preparation with Wine Services

Before launch, you need a solid strategy - and we support you from that prep phase with tools to refine it and benchmark against competitors. The "Preparation" view in our platform's En Primeur tab gives you an overview of your pricing and quality positioning.

With your WxR score, you see how well your tasting scores line up with your average En Primeur price. Compared against a competitive pool you define up front, you immediately know whether your pricing is in step with the market or needs adjusting. You can also track how your En Primeur prices have evolved across campaigns and set them against market trends - anticipating buyers' expectations and maximizing your vintage's valuation. And by following your scores across previous vintages, you measure their direct impact on your appeal and adapt accordingly.

Real-time tracking during the campaign

During En Primeur, every signal counts. Market trends and critics' ratings directly shape how your vintage is perceived and valued - a glowing score can lift demand and justify a more ambitious price. We give you real-time monitoring and analysis to track these moves closely and decide with confidence.

1. Tasting-score tracking

Tasting scores are central to perception. We collect and integrate ratings from 21 recognized experts daily for a consolidated view of your quality performance, so you can track your scores live and compare them with competitors. Those scores feed the WxR (Wine eXpert Rating) - an average out of 100 that accounts for each critic's scoring patterns (minimum, maximum, standard deviation). During the campaign, a vintage's WxR appears once five critics have scored it and updates with each new score until all 21 are in; the final En Primeur WxR is then stored as a baseline for tracking the average over the years. In our MyApp platform, the configurable Your eXpert Rating (YxR) lets you weight each critic to your liking - or exclude one with a coefficient of 0.

2. Media and market monitoring

Throughout the campaign, our press team runs a daily En Primeur-specific media watch on top of standard monitoring - tracking specialist coverage, influential critics' announcements, and the market's reaction to price releases in real time, so you can adjust your messaging and strategy as feedback comes in.

3. Release tracking

Once your vintage hits the market, the "Live" view in the En Primeur tab gives you a full picture of merchants offering your wines and their prices, with automatic alerts when there's a gap from your recommended prices - so you can react fast. We can integrate prices in multiple currencies on request. At day's end, you get an En Primeur release log: every wine released that day, its WxR, its Market Minimum Price, and the change versus the previous vintage.

Post-campaign analysis to plan ahead

After the campaign, evaluating performance is essential to refining future strategy. We provide a detailed recap to track, end to end, your wine's average market price, your number of sellers, your average margin versus your competitive pool, and a full breakdown of merchants offering your wine En Primeur - including average price gap versus the market and its year-on-year change, so you know whether you gained, held, or lost points of sale.

In short

En Primeur is a strategic opportunity to showcase your vintage and optimize your commercial strategy - and selling well starts with setting the right price. With Wine Services, you anticipate trends, fine-tune prices, and keep your offer aligned with the market. We support you at every step, from preparation to post-campaign analysis, so you can offer your wines at the right price and the right moment. Anticipate, adjust, and optimize your En Primeur campaign with us.