The 04's from the other half of the world may be here before the end of the year, but may not, they are six months or so ahead.

Futures work like this:

You find a store that sells them, lots of places do, if you have a wine section in your paper one day a week there will be in the ads.

You pre order a case, two, three, whatever, and when the wine is released, they ship it to you. Sometimes that's a year or two down the road, sometimes more, but it will eventually show up. Some places take delivery and you have to pick it up. The winery may prefer to hold the wine in the barrels another year or two. Ask your favorite store if they take orders for like that, if not it's no big deal, when the 04's come out, just get a case.

I figured that was what you are doing, I do that all the time, just did it for somebody a couple weeks ago. What I do is for the wedding I'll get them a nice decanter (I love decanters) and a couple of the 28 ounce ballon glases, the ones that can hold a half bottle of wine each, and toss in some wine that is decent. I'll include in the card a note that once the vintage of their wedding is released, I'll get them a case to enjoy on their anniversaries for the next 11 years (the year they get it and the other 11 bottles).

A good friend got married at the end of August last year, so hopefully, without not much trouble I'll be able to get one of my fav's that was harvested on their wedding day.

It's great to have the wine grow with the couple.