Wine lovers should soon be able to profit from their passion for France's favorite tipple with the launch on the Paris stock exchange of a futures contract for fine Bordeaux wines. Winefex Bordeaux, touted by bourse operator Euronext as the world's first wine futures market, is scheduled for launch on September 14, Euronext said on Thursday. Contracts for the sale or purchase of the futures, which allow investors to trade at a set price on a fixed date in order to guard against sharp market movements, will be based on five cases of 12 identical 75-cl bottles of en primeur Bordeaux. En primeur wines are delivered in November two years after the grapes are harvested. The contracts will be sold at a price denominated in euros, which will usually be announced in the second quarter of the year following the harvest and will involve 140 well-known labels.
