Advance order or obligation to buy a wine before it has been bottled or, in extreme cases, even before the grape harvest (French sur souche: from the vine = vine). The term "futures" is also used in English (meaning "future trading"). The aim is to secure special wines that are cheaper than those traded afterwards in normal wine trading. This is particularly popular in times of strong demand for very good vintages from generally well-known producers. This is especially common for the Cru-Classé-Wines of Bordeaux for entire vintages, but is also increasingly used by other wineries, which produce so-called garage wines (special wines of often excellent quality in often very small quantities). As a prerequisite for pre-ordering, professional tastings and wine evaluations of the young wines are carried out before bottling.
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The glossary is a monumental achievement and one of the most important contributions to wine knowledge. Of all the encyclopaedias I use on the subject of wine, it is by far the most important. That was the case ten years ago and it hasn't changed since.
Andreas Essl
Autor, Modena