Bordeaux at K&L
Bordeaux is the one region where “direct” means something different: the châteaux sell through courtiers and négociants, and have since the 1600s. Here is how that system works, and how K&L buys inside it — from the barrel each spring, from the château when we can, and from the négociants’ warehouses when the deal is right.
Whereas with producers in other wine regions of the world we are able to work directly, purchasing the bottles right from the source, Bordeaux has had a courtier system in place since the 1600s that involves a series of brokers and middlemen who help the many châteaux bring their wines to the public. For centuries, the people in charge of making the wine rarely managed the bottling or selling of it (the same can be said for Scotch whisky and Cognac with the blending houses), and the négociants were the people who handled the business side — warehousing the wine, keeping inventory, and handling exportation. While a number of châteaux today do some direct sales, about 80% of all Bordeaux is still sold via this system. With fifty years of industry experience under our belt, K&L is fortunate enough to have deep relationships with top producers and influential négociants from whom we're able to purchase directly, avoiding distribution margins stateside.
Each vintage, when the grapes are harvested and the wine has been vinified and put into barrel, the négociants purchase allocations from the various châteaux, which are then made available to retailers via the en primeur system — a system of futures that offers allocations of each wine years in advance of delivery. As a merchant, K&L travels to Bordeaux each year to taste the wines from the barrel, make evaluations, and then decide how much to purchase based on the strength of the vintage and the quality of the wine. In some cases we are able to purchase new inventory directly from the château, while other times we might reserve futures from a broker, or even buy older wines from back vintages still located in a négociant's warehouse. There are very few retailers in the U.S. that have the ability to both purchase directly and control their own importation. By going direct, we're able to get pricing at the same level as a distributor, passing along those savings to our customers.
We are often keen to revisit wines from the “off” vintages, as we love finding a great deal. But it's the long-standing relationships that truly set K&L apart from other retailers. After fifty years, we have a level of access that is unprecedented for an American company.