(Wine Searcher) - Bordeaux's big guns might be misfiring, but that doesn't mean there isn't great wine to be had.

Another year; another Bordeaux en primeur campaign fades into history.

This particular saga has already been categorized as the "missed opportunity" primeurs, with UK merchants bemoaning unintelligent pricing, plummeting sales and a lack of consumer interest.

"2017 – apart from 2013 – was the worst en primeur campaign by volume since 1992," said Farr Vintners' managing director, Stephen Browett. He's not alone.

Indeed, trading-platform Liv-Ex described Bordeaux 2017 as "a risky strategy", noting that the UK's leading merchants' en primeur sales halved to £45 million ($60m) this year, while the average sterling release price of the 2017s dropped 11.8 percent from 2016.