Business
9 business terms explained by our experts.
En Primeur
En primeur (also called wine futures) is the practice of buying wine while it is still aging in barrel, typically 18-24 months before bottling and delivery. This system, centred on Bordeaux, allows buyers to secure allocations of top wines at release prices before they enter the secondary market.
BusinessCooperage
A cooperage is a workshop where coopers craft and repair wooden barrels (casks) used for wine aging. The art of cooperage involves selecting oak, splitting or sawing staves, shaping them with fire and water, and assembling them into watertight barrels — a skill virtually unchanged for centuries.
BusinessVertical Tasting
A vertical tasting is a comparative tasting of the same wine from a single producer across multiple vintages. This format reveals how vintage variation, aging, and winemaker evolution affect a wine over time, making it one of the most educational and revealing tasting formats.
BusinessHorizontal Tasting
A horizontal tasting compares wines from different producers or vineyards within the same vintage year. This format highlights how terroir, winemaking style, and producer philosophy create different expressions from the same growing season.
BusinessVigneron
A vigneron is a French term for a winegrower who cultivates vines and typically produces wine from their own estate-grown grapes. Unlike a négociant who buys grapes or wine from others, the vigneron embodies the direct connection between land, vine, and bottle — the essence of terroir-driven winemaking.
BusinessDomaine
A domaine is a French wine estate where the proprietor grows grapes and produces wine entirely from their own vineyards. The term is most closely associated with Burgundy, where domaine-bottled wines represent the pinnacle of terroir expression, but it is used across all French wine regions.
BusinessCave Coopérative
A cave coopérative is a winery collectively owned by its member grape growers, who pool their harvests and resources for vinification, aging, and marketing. Cooperatives produce roughly 40% of all French wine and play a vital role in regions where small-scale independent winemaking would be economically unviable.
BusinessRécoltant-Manipulant (RM)
A Récoltant-Manipulant (RM) is a Champagne grower who cultivates their own vineyards and produces Champagne entirely from their own grapes on their own premises. The RM code on a Champagne label distinguishes grower-made Champagne from that of large négociant houses.
BusinessSecond Wine
A second wine is a secondary label produced by a prestigious wine estate, typically in Bordeaux, using lots that were not selected for the estate's flagship grand vin. Second wines offer an accessible entry point to a top château's style at a significantly lower price.