What is Ex-Cellars?

Buying wine “Ex Cellars,” or en primeur as it is also known, is a way of securing an allocation of a specific wine at the best price while it is still abroad, often when it is still in the barrel.

Hicks & Don were amongst the first merchants in the UK to sell wines in this way, starting with offering the 1966 vintage of Bordeaux wines at prices which nowadays will make you wince and wonder why you haven’t been buying your wines like this for longer!

When buying wine Ex Cellars from Hicks & Don, the price you will see quoted is the first instalment or basic cost of the wine in the barrel abroad. We then ship the wine when it has been bottled and once it is in our bonded warehouse we will send a second invoice for associated costs which are duty (at the prevailing rate at that time), shipping, handling and transport to your home, and lastly VAT. When buying Ex Cellars we recommend buying 3 cases or more in order to keep shipping costs to a minimum. As a guide, on an order of 3 cases of Bordeaux 2009 we anticipate the duty and shipping to be around £37 per case, plus VAT.

See our current Ex-Cellars offerings.