Our monthly newsletters keep customers updated on what is going on in the wine market and at BI. It informs you of any dinners, tastings and events that we host and keeps you posted on upcoming events and any new services we have to offer. Please feel free to share our newsletters by forwarding them to friends, family, or wine lovers alike.

Newsletters 2013

• May 2013What a month it’s been. Aside from the madness of Bordeaux 2012 (more on that later) the big announcement is that after many months in the planning, we have finally opened our first BI USA office. Based in Los Angeles and the brainchild of long-term BI colleagues Jon Roach and Joe Marchant, this is an exciting development for BI, as it makes us a fully 24-hour, fully global fine wine merchant. Bordeaux might be less glamorous than LA – or more, if you visit Ducru Beaucaillou – but there’s no doubt that they’ve battled back from the brink to make some fabulous wines in 2012. There are some beauties on the Left Bank but the Right is arguably where the real action is: see our full Bordeaux 2012 report for more details. On the other side of the world our man in HK has been living it up at one of the world’s great Burgundy dinners and back here in London we had the small matter of our 2003 ‘Bordeaux 10 Years On’ tasting.

• February 2013At BI, we've brought the New Year in with a bang. The market looks pretty positive so far: our phones have been ringing off the hook, parcels are selling briskly, and we’re being offered more and more juicy bits of stock to send your way.

  In particular, we’ve seen great interest in the elegant Burgundies of 2011, and as 2010 clarets have been collecting exceptional in-bottle scores it looks as if the Bordeaux market might be primed for a kick-start. So far, we’ve travelled to Beaune to visit Domaine Louis Jadot, Istanbul for the launch of Dom Perignon Rosé 2002 and Southwold for the much-anticipated re-tasting of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage. We even had the pleasure of The Wine Advocate’s Neal Martin dropping in to discuss his magnificent new tome, ‘Pomerol’.

  Along the way we've been lucky enough to drink some pretty fabulous bottles so, if only for vicarious pleasure it’s worth checking out Guy Ruston’s ‘Bucket List’ of his best wines of 2012. To top it off, the wine of the year so far (yes, we know it’s only February) has got to be a bottle of 1923 Jadot Musigny enjoyed by MD Gary Boom and Head of UK and European Sales David Thomas in the company of Jacques Lardiere.

  Enjoy the Year of the Snake.

Newsletters 2012

• November 2012This month we’re celebrating our two fastest growing categories in 2012: Italian wine and Champagne. It’s been a hectic month for events in both these camps, with our inaugural ’10 Years On’ Tasting for Champagne – not to mention smashing our previous sales record for the finest fizz – and three days of events in Hong Kong with a group of wonderful Italian winemakers. But it’s not all been bubbles and Barolo: we’ve also celebrated the wines of Spain and Portugal, compared the world’s best Rieslings and Pinot Noirs, and taken an epic trip to the Rhone Valley. Who said anything about winding down towards Christmas?!

• October 2012It’s been another month of excitement at BI with major announcements, company achievements and personal milestones all occurring at once. The move to our new storage warehouse is something we’re seriously excited about; it’s the most cutting edge facility in the UK and guarantees future growth space for our customers just at the time when quality storage in the UK is hard to find. Likewise we were thrilled to be recognised by the International Wine Challenge as the Bordeaux Specialist Merchant of the Year for 2012 – there’s no doubt we’ve worked hard for this but much of our success is down to your support; so thank you. On top of all this, our BI marathon team all completed the Marathon du Medoc in early September, raising a sizeable amount of money for our two chosen charities. Alongside all this excitement we’ve had the usual raft of dinners and tastings.
   
• August 2012It's been another crazy month around the world for BI: with wine lunches and dinners to blow the mind, Champagne sales at an all-time high and the final stages of preparation for the BI Team running the Marathon du Medoc, it's been all go go go. On this final point, it's very much worth mentioning that we have announced our chosen charities for the marathon: we're delighted to be supporting The Sick Children's Trust and The Benevolent, The Drinks Industry Charity. We've set a serious target of £10k so we'd ask you to dig deep and support these two worthwhile causes – and if that wasn't enough, there's a chance to WIN something special by guessing the fastest and our team's collective times. 
   
• June 2012It’s been a busy month, what with Bordeaux 2011, Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, an epic Burgundy cellar sale and our big Summer Sale. In this month's newsletter we’ll cover a few fantastic dinners, some memorable tastings (including an unofficial HK ‘Paulee’ which boasted a line-up to weaken the knees of even hardened wine lovers) and an insight into BI courtesy of the Daily Telegraph. In addition, we’re announcing the winner of our most recent online competition and giving you the chance to win a magnum of Pol Roger NV by completing our Wine Tours questionnaire.
   
• April 2012This month we're focusing a great deal of energy on the fascinating 2011 Bordeaux en primeur campaign. The vintage was written off by the critics long in advance due to adverse weather conditions and yet somehow, many chateaux have pulled off an unbelievable coup: using all the modern vineyard and winery techniques at their disposal to make wines which taste truly and traditionally 'Bordeaux'. Add to this the expectation of heavily reduced prices against the 2010 campaign and the the vintage's early approachability and you have a campaign well worth your serious consideration.
   
• March 2012Welcome to our March edition. If you weren't convinced before, it's now official. With Robert Parker's re-scoring, 2009 in Bordeaux has been cemented as one of the top vintages of the century. We cover it in-depth below and on our website. This month hasn't only been about Bordeaux, however. The BI Sales team trekked to Burgundy (photo below) to meet with top growers, and enjoyed some fantastic London tastings. These included an audience with Olivier Krug (which took us all to a very happy place), as well as a fascinating master class in Port. We’ve brightened up the start of each week with Blind Tasting Tuesdays, wherein we recommend our favourite everyday drinking wines. Our aim is to simplify, by selecting only the best in categories such as Chablis, Rose and Sparkling. Throw in a Smash, a Bash and a Marathon du Medoc, and it's shaped up to be a fantastic month so far.
   
• February 2012Welcome to our February edition. As the country has been plunged into something approaching a real winter (snow and minus temperatures doth a real winter make, in our book) we’ve been desperately searching for ways to think of summer and sunshine. So whether it’s our focus on the relaxed, genial warmth of Italy’s wine regions, our introduction to the ‘heatwave’ 2003 Dom Perignon, the BI team’s bold (foolish?) entry into this summer’s Marathon du Medoc, or simply our attempt to cheer ourselves up by blind tasting dozens and dozens of groundbreaking (but not bank-breaking) wines – it’s all here, and it’s all about lifting the spirits.
• January 2012Welcome to our January edition. This month, BI celebrates 15 years of successful business, as well as the opening of a new office in Singapore. The year began with a bang at our 2010 En Primeur Burgundy tasting, which evoked quite a stir in both customers and journalists alike. Our events and tastings calendar is filling fast; already we can offer BI customers exclusive reduced rates and zero corkage at St. John Hotel and an Italian Tasting with winemakers in our dedicated tasting room.

  "What We've Been Drinking" this month reflects BI's collective New Year’s Resolution to “Drink Better Wine” (perhaps less, perhaps not – but definitely better); as the team highlights some gems from our first private cellar sale of the year.

Newsletters 2011 

• December 2011 Welcome to our December edition, where we are delighted to announce the appointment of Michael Spencer, a long-time Bordeaux Index supporter and client, as our non-executive chairman. BI founder and Managing Director Gary Boom expresses our sentiments best: "We are delighted Michael has agreed to join us as Chairman. With his unrivalled knowledge of the financial markets and love of fine wine, I am sure he will make a substantial contribution to the next phase of our growth."

  In addition to our overall Bordeaux Index report, HK MD Doug Rumsam gives unique insight into Q3 of Hong Kong's 2011 wine market, and a forward view to 2012. In both London and Hong Kong, the festive season is in full swing – read on as the BI team takes you along to wine dinners, tastings and events, commenting upon the best in fine wine along the way.

• November 2011 Welcome to our November edition. This month we revisit 2009 Bordeaux and offer our team's expert comparison with 2010 (the 09’s were showing very well at this year's UGC tasting at the Royal Opera House).

  We hope our monthly market report will be of interest in light of recent economic developments. However, in the main this month’s newsletter focuses on accounts of recent successful events in both the UK and Hong Kong, from our well attended Spain/Portugal tasting here at Hatton Garden, to a lunch invite at Krug, a pair of famed BI ‘Smash & Bash’ evenings, and a trip to Piedmont.

  You may also have noticed via our website a recent promotion for zero corkage at the Square which is set to continue until December 17th. Follow our instructions here to take advantage of this very generous offer.

• October 2011 Welcome to our October edition. This month we’re pleased to announce (if you haven’t already heard) that we have chosen to reduce our minimum order requirement from £500 to only £100. We have so many great wines below £500 per case on the list that we didn’t want to restrict our clients who enjoy buying their wines to drink from indulging.

  If you have any wines for sale then we are keen to purchase them too providing they fit the right criteria. Take a look at our Cellar Valuation page to see how easy it is.

• August/September 2011 Welcome to our September edition and this month we are delighted to announce that we have once again been shortlisted to win the Bordeaux and En Primeur specialist awards at the International Wine Challenge ceremony which will be held on 6th September 2011.

  This month’s copy also includes a round up from our summer tasting and the standouts of the show, as well as some more information on our Spain / Portugal tasting coming up and our first themed ledbury dinner of this Autumn.

• July 2011 We are delighted to present our July edition, which this month includes our quarterly market report written by the investment team, a novel wine tour where you can experience the harvest first-hand, plus Michael Schuster's new fine wine tasting event dates. In addition, we have included our 'what we've been drinking recently' column, a few of our favourite wines still available to buy from the most recently released vintage in Bordeaux 2010, and a not to be missed "Michelin Starred" zero corkage offer.
  
  Lastly, we would like to congratulate a member of our purchasing team, Christopher Jaubert, as his family’s Château Bone, has just won the award for best buy under £12 per bottle in wine critic Jane MacQuitty's top 100 summer wines in "The Times" recent competition.
   

• June 2011 Welcome to our June edition. We are delighted to announce that our Managing Director, Gary Boom has been listed in the very influential Decanter ‘Power List’ for the second time running. We would like to thank all those who voted for their support.

  We would also like to congratulate Alex Stansfield, the winner of our recent online competition, who won prize tickets for the Decanter Education ‘Understanding Bordeaux’ Masterclass with one of the world's leading Bordeaux experts, Steven Spurrier.

  Articles included in this month’s edition cover various fine wine events and as usual our ‘what we’ve been drinking recently’ column. One of the highlights from last month was our 2010 Bordeaux en primeur tasting held here in our 4th floor tasting room. Take a peek at what we felt showed up best on the night.

  Finally, Our ‘Be the First to Taste’ wine tour, where customers were flown to Bordeaux to taste the new vintage straight from the barrel was yet another success and you can view a report on it here.

  We hope you enjoy the read.

• May 2011 Welcome to our May edition which this month features 'what we've been drinking recently', our recent trip to Bordeaux plus the '50 Years of Clos des Goisses' event at Michelin starred restaurant 'The Ledbury'.

  As well as this, you can read Michael Schuster's full vintage report on 2010 Bordeaux, which is also available to view in the En Primeur section of our website and where we urge you to place your pre-orders with release now imminent.

  If you missed our Market Analysis or haven't had a chance to read it yet, we have included some headlines below.

  Lastly, as we approach the summer, now is the time to be stocking up on some fizz, rosé and whites. Keep reading to see our recommendations.

• April 2011 Welcome to our April edition which this month focuses on En Primeur 2010 and numerous articles covering recent tastings and dinners we have held.
  
  With regards to En Primeur we are delighted to announce that ‘wishlists’ are now available on our website which allows users to create and update a list of wines that you are interested in. Once these wines are released you will be contacted by your account manager before we release them for general sale. The ‘pre-order system’ that proved so successful last year will be available to use from early next week and you will be notified once it is fully functional.

• March 2011 Welcome to our March edition. This month we take a look back at two dining events from opposite ends of the spectrum, but both equally enjoyable experiences.
  
  We have also included a February market update from our investment team, and we'd be delighted to get your feedback on the launch of 'A Day to Trip Over' - which is a new initiative from our BI wine tours service, whereby we can now offer day trips to Bordeaux at a great price!
• February 2011 Welcome to our February edition. This month, following on from our tasting in January, we've included our recommendations on which Burgundy 2009s to buy.
  
  As ever, our popular 'what we've been drinking recently column' makes an appearance along with a write up of our recent Isole E Olena & Proprieta Sperino event at 'The Ledbury'. On the topic of which, if you like Italian wines, you'll be pleased to see a snap preview of our up-coming Tuscany tour.
• January 2011 Welcome to our January edition. This month we are pleased to provide a positive solution to beating the January Blues! In addition, this month's newsletter includes articles on a recent Pol Roger dinner at 'The Ledbury', a guest piece from Michael Schuster, and an overview of one of our bespoke trips to the Champagne region.
  
  This week we held our second Burgundy en primeur tasting showcasing the 2009s.
  
  Our general view was that it seemed as though the picking times on the whites were crucial and that the earlier they were picked, the better. With regards to the reds; we felt that they may not be the long distance runners that the 2005s are sure to be, but they were delicious to drink young and they will hold. We can certainly say that most were an absolute pleasure to taste.

Newsletters 2010

• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010