Berrys in Bordeaux

We started in the fog yesterday morning. It's amazing how one's spirits are dampened by the lack of sun. After a couple of false starts we hit Ch. d'Angludet at 9.30am. We've not always got on with this wine but it was fabulous today. As with all the proprietors of chateaux that have succeeded this year, Benjamin Sichel of d'Angludet spent some time explaining to us about the various selections in the vineyard which had resulted in low yields of very concentrated grapes. His pride in his work was obvious - and well deserved, given the wine's ripe fruit and elegant tannins.

Then off to Ch. Margaux, shrouded in fog (see the picture above). There was something rather ethereal about standing at the gates of the grandest chateau in Bordeaux as the mist drew in. The building is even more impressive in the flesh than it was on the documentary 'Wine: The Faith' and the set-up at Margaux reflected its status with glossy brochures and helpers on hand to look after our every whim. Paul Pontallier was charming; the wines were good but other First Growths are ahead in our humble opinion, but for his view, take a look at the video below, in which he talks about the '08s:



Overall it seems that in 2008 Pauillac and St Julien are the more consistent Left Bank communes with Margaux and St Estephe less consistent. The one area we have yet to discover is Pessac-Leognan. We are en route this morning to Haut-Brion, La Mission, Dom. Chevalier and Haut-Bailly: the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle.

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Here's a video filmed yesterday in St Emilion, with Simon Staples, Jasper Morris MW and Nick Pegna (Managing Director of BB&R Hong Kong) giving their views on the 2008s they've tasted so far:



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Our trip across the Gironde to the Right Bank yesterday was extremely informative. We arrived in the beautiful town of St Emilion with the sun still beating down. Our first challenge was to drive up the hill on narrow single track road to Ch. Ausone (left).

Ausone really has the most majestic position in St Emilion with a picture perfect view of the town and its vineyards. Yesterday the wines wonderfully reflected this grandiose position. All the wines from the Ausone stable were very good. Ch. Fonbel had depth and class, Moulin St Georges was incredibly smooth, silky and pure, La Chapelle was beautifully concentrated but the Grand Vin stole the show with almost concertina-like fruit, coiled and ready and waiting to spring out in the future. Smooth and incredibly sophisticated, this reminded us of a 100m runner raring to go - but not for at least 15 more years. This is one for the long haul.

The day continued in an excellent vein. La Conseillante was ethereal and almost Burgundian in texture with silky, focused purity and beautiful freshness. Fantastic.

Vieux Chateau Certan was also very good: the epitome of purity. Alexander Thienpont didn't think it was the best wine he had ever made but we thought otherwise. Full of energy it had brilliant balance, drive and direction. Talking of energy, Jacques Thienpont at Le Pin was in an ebullient mood (see the video below!). He was on great form, as was his wine with its pure, fresh crunchy fruit and great acidity.



Our spirits are certainly high. The Right Bank so far has provided some excellent wine. As with the Left Bank it seems that rigorous selection in the vineyards has been key. The good weather at the end of the season fortuitously fell when the Right Bank were picking Merlot and then later when the Left Bank were picking Cabernet.

This morning is Margaux morning and we have just arrived at the illustrious Ch. Margaux. It is foggy today - the sun has gone for now but we will wait to see if these wines will shine through like others so far. Allez-y.

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Another glorious morning and we have left the vineyards of Margaux behind en route to St Emilion and Pomerol.

Yesterday we finished the day's tasting (13 chateaux) by relaxing on a terrace in the sun, a welcome cleansing ale in hand, reflecting on the wines.

2008 for us is all about value and our main purpose during this week is to find the 10 wines that will represent the best value for money in this vintage. Yesterday we added three more chateaux to the list of contenders: Chx. Beychevelle (see left), Lagrange and Grand-Puy-Lacoste. These three had all made very impressive wines with bags of fruit, fine tannins and excellent structure - great achievements.

One of the most interesting things about this vintage so far is that the wines show very little evidence of green tannins or unripe fruit. Because of the widely reported bad weather over last summer, the chateaux waited a long time before starting to pick to allow the grapes more time to fully ripen. Virtually every producer we have visited talks about 2008 being their latest vintage ever for Cabernet and this ripeness of fruit really shines through on the good wines. Our top ten list is already looking very positive.

A review of yesterday's tasting would not be complete without mentioning Ch. Latour (and on such a beautiful day too - see the picture we took below left). This was quite clearly THE wine of the vintage so far (with Mouton in 2nd place). We all unhesitatingly gave it 19.5/20 (see the picture of us tasting, right). Quite incredible - but the price will undoubtedly reflect this. If you are going to splash out in '08 then this could well be the one to go for.

We've just crossed the Pont d'Aquitaine and are now in Right Bank mode. Ausone, Angelus and Cheval Blanc await us. We've heard that Merlot in 2008 is as good on the Right Bank as Cabernet seems to have been on the Left - by the end of today we'll know for ourselves if this is the case. Once more unto the breach, dear friends...

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Monday was an interesting day in Bordeaux. There were ups and there were downs but fortunately for us the sun shone throughout to lighten our spirits.

We headed to , full of anticipation at the potential quality of the wines which lay ahead following last night’s positive tasting. With hindsight, St Estephe was not the easiest commune to start with at 9.15am. Fruit ripeness had evidently been difficult to achieve and the wines were austere to put it mildly. At Cos we were shown around the full splendour of the brand new, all-singing-all-dancing superstructure that is their barrel cellar (as seen in ‘Wine: The Firm’). An incredible achievement but the glass bridge and stainless steel staircase felt just a little soulless. Somewhat deflated, we drew up to Pontet Canet and walked up to the characterful tasting room with the most fabulous views over the vineyards of Pauillac. As we tasted the wine there was a palpable sigh of relief - at last some fruit! And decent fruit too. Attractive and appealing with more weight and 'bones', which renewed our hopes for 2008.
On then to Lafite and Mouton before lunch. Of the two, the Mouton won the day for its gravitas, concentration and general star quality. D'Armailhac and Clerc Milon were pretty good too - things were looking up.

The two Pichons were impressive that afternoon but it was the Haut-Bages-Liberal that stole the show (see picture above). Crunchy red and black fruits and a fantastic chocolaty complexity made this our buy of the day so far. At this price level, 2008 could mean some seriously top quality but inexpensive wines. This was a real contender for a top ten value wine of the vintage - and it was only day one! Suddenly things were looking up - and the sun was still shining.

Final stop of the day: tasting at Lynch Bages (Villa Bel Air, Ormes de Pez, Echo and Lynch - see picture above) followed by a beer and dinner with Jean-Charles Cazes.

With wonderful wines and such pleasant company it was easy to slip back into positive thoughts about the ‘08s. So far this seems to be a year that worked well for those who did incredibly rigorous selections in the vineyard; a year where there will be surprises and disappointments, possibly where least expected. For now we will keep our minds open and keep on going. Time for the next appointment.

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It is a glorious sunny morning in Bordeaux and we are currently wending our way through St Julien, passing by Leoville-Las Cases and Latour as we head to our first appointment of the day at Ch. Montrose (see picture below). Yesterday's flight was packed full of the UK wine trade; the annual pilgrimage to Bordeaux had certainly started - and all the talk was of what we expected to find in the 2008s.

We were keen to be off and, after a short detour via the annual Bordeaux vs UK trade XI cricket match to witness Jasper Morris's glorious four wickets which helped to bring the match to a swift conclusion, we headed off to unpack and prepare for our first tasting of the 2008s.

We were served 2008 Ch. du Tertre, Ch. Giscours and Ch. Haut-Bailly and it must be said that we were genuinely pleasantly surprised. The du Tertre was delicate but very pretty and pure whilst the Giscours had more depth and weight and the Haut-Bailly was superbly concentrated with big, soft tannins that we found ourselves chewing for some time afterwards. All in all it has been a promising start. If the rest of the wines continue in this vein then Bordeaux '08 could well surprise us all.

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Every year we go to Bordeaux in early April for the en primeur tastings and every year I am reminded of the hundred years’ war... There is always that sense of anticipation before battle: our palates attempting to discover the truth behind what is always a beautifully executed French PR campaign.

According to the Bordelais a vintage is, at its worse, always good. We British can be accused of being more cynical but one thing’s for sure – only by going and tasting the wines ourselves will we find out. Another UK merchant has quite openly declared their intention not to go this year. We have always felt that our role is to be the link between the people who make the wine and the people who drink the wine, so we would be doing our customers a disservice if we were to take that stance.

Only time will tell if Bordeaux 2008 will indeed be decent vintage but for now we guarantee you this: during the whole of next week, for better or for worse, we will bring you the truth about Bordeaux 2008 from the hallowed cellars of the châteaux themselves.

We’ll be visiting all the big names, from Lafite and Mouton to Gruaud and Lynch, to provide you with a complete overview. Let the battle commence!

If you would like to be the FIRST to know the truth about the Bordeaux 2008 vintage then follow our daily blog reports from Our Man in Bordeaux. To keep up with every step of Simon Staples' vinous adventure, you can follow him on . Sign up now, it only takes a few seconds and it's free.

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