Hi all
Just a question for those that like to drink Sauternes (or at least, not ‘young’ Sauternes).
Do you buy it on release? A google around/trawl of winesearcher seems to suggest that the vast majority of decent Sauternes, outside of the ~decennial ‘famous’ vintages since 2000 are still hovering at, if not a little lower than their initial release price.
If you do buy it on release, why? Innocent question - would love some guidance from those who know more/have more experience!
Very good question and I think you’ve also answered your own question. There seems to be very little point in buying it en primeur. The only sweet Bordeaux I am glad I bought is a Suduiraut 2001, because it was a cracking year.
I have bought some en primeur over the years, but have just incurred storage costs …
I can highly reccomend buying back vintages …
I echo the other responses here. I bought a half case of Suduiraut 2011 in a fit of enthusiasm en primeur ten years ago. Without even factoring in inflation, you can buy it for 10% less today than I bought it for.
On the upside, the bottles I have drunk have been simply delicious; on the downside, it was a purchase I didn’t need to make at that time.
Back when I bought en primeur on a regular basis - up to 2010 - I’d include a case of a Sauternes favourite, in advantageous vintages. Then came the days when you could get Ch Rieussec for knock-off prices, because it was being forced upon Chinese buyers as a condition of buying Lafite-Rothschild - but you needed to wait for the secondary market.
A little observation soon revealed the lack of inflation in the values of the wines bought en primeur, so I took to delaying my gratification. The biggest bargains of the revised strategy have turned out to be Ch Coutet 2014 and Ch Raymond-Lafon 2015, which I obtained for <£27 and <£22/bottle respectively, all-in, many years after release.
So no more Sauternes en primeur. Mug’s game.
On the other hand…
I bought a few bottles of ‘01 Climens en primeur at $56/bottle. It’s now closer to $300. Just sayin’… 
As a result of buying EP, I am now the proud (?) possessor of Rieussec 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010, along with a few other Sauternes not bought EP.
On the basis of that decade of experience, I’d say that EP Sauternes is a total waste of time! Wines are lovely, no doubt, but in terms of getting some kind of return, I’d suggest you’re generally better off buying mature bottles. I moved house in 2020 and checked prevailing market prices of all my wines for insurance purposes. Most of the Rieussecs had moved upwards - maybe even doubled - but not a great deal of movement given the 7- to 17-year time-frame. To compare, a £57 bottle of Roumier 1er cru bought in 2015 had gone to £360!
Yes, as Bob mentioned, you might get the odd wine that pops…my first EP purchases were 6 x 2001 Sociando Mallet and 6 x 2001 Rieussec; by 2004, Wine Spectator had named Rieussec 2001 its wine of the year (maybe 100 points as well?) and the price immediately doubled and doubtless has moved from there. But the vast majority have gone nowhere significant.
Indeed, I remember either the 2005 or 2010 Rieussec was tied by Rothschild to sales of Lafite (i.e. merchants had to by X cases of Rieussec at £500 / 12 to get 1 case of Lafite). One enterprising UK merchant that I ended up buying from simply sold the Rieussec on at £250 because they wanted the Lafite and figured that the Rieussec was totally overpriced and they’d rather get rid of it (and still make money on the Lafite). Which says a lot for their view of the future value & pricing of top-quality Sauternes.
Yep… another vote here for no EP on Sauternes as it’s a wine the world doesnt “get” (along with Riesling) … I did buy some but time has shown that if you keep an eye out you can invariably buy it at the same or lower cost than EP + storage if you are not chasing specific producers / years
I have noticed that Sauternes prices have been increasing in the last year. So if the EP price is reasonable (which I am not optimistic about) it may be worth buying. The last time I bought any EP was 2014
Yes Sauternes prices have been slightly firming up which is good news for the producers. Perhaps the tiny size of the 2021 crop will continue this phenomenon.
At least there is no hurry whatsoever to drink these wines! (See this tasting of sweet white bordeaux back to 1899.)