Talking to him is a course in wine appreciation. And to make it more desirable, wine improves with time and in the bottle. That assumes the wine was purchased as futures or en primeur. En primeur is the term used by the French wine trade to indicate wines sold before they are bottled. Futures are offered for the most prestigious wineries in France and California.
Retail shops can provide interested customers with information about the offerings.
The obvious advantage of futures to the producers is that of making cash available to them earlier than would otherwise be possible. For the buyer, it is a matter of getting dibs on scarce wine and, with any luck, paying less in the process. Thanks to the vagaries of vintage and the volatility of the marketplace, futures are not always available. The exact conditions that dictate which wines are available en primeur are complex, but even when futures are not offered, buying sooner rather than later is still good advice. As Antonakeas pointed out, it doesn't make sense for the individual investor to buy a 1982 vintage.