CHATEAU LATOUR HAS ABANDONED THE SALES EN PRIMEUR SYSTEM THAT GUIDES THE BORDEAUX MARKET, AND HAS DISCOVERED A MORE “AMERICAN” WAY, LIKE A MAILING LIST, NAPA VALLEY STYLE, FOR DIRECT SALES OF ITS THREE WINES

Château Latour has abandoned the en primeur sales system that has always guided most of the Bordeaux market; especially the fine wines, and opted for the more American way of marketing. Frédéric Engerer, president of Premier Grand Cru of Médoc since 1998, is ready to bet heavily on direct sales to individual selected buyers, collected in a single mailing list, as California wineries have always done.

The idea, or rather the fascination, as the online magazine "The Pan" (www.lepanmedia.com) writes, is part of the property’s strategies. In 2013 François Pinault bought the cult winery Araujo in Napa Valley where Engerer spends a week every two months, just to discover and assimilate a different business model, precisely that of the US.

“Napa Valley”, explained Engerer to" Pan", “was a revelation to us. They use very different commercial techniques from ours, particularly, direct interaction with individual customers, which represents 60% of the turnover. Understanding the importance of a direct relationship between Araujo and our customers, for example, made us reflect. Meanwhile, we’ll see how sales of our three Latour wines go through the negociant channel alone, now that we have decided to abandon en primeur sales, and then”, concluded Engerer, “we will evaluate the feasibility of a mailing list for a small category of our historic customers, that has had great success in Napa Valley, but there is no guarantee it will work in the Old World.