The large and noisy Bordeaux drum has been quieter than one would expect, considering the extraordinary growing season and resulting wines of 2010. There is no doubt that the clamour for the wines of the 2009 vintage, coupled with new buyers and rave reviews, pushed prices up to unprecedented levels. Many properties believe they have made better wines in 2010 and are unsure as to where to price them or what final demand is likely to be. The sobering world events of the last month or so, as well as continued economic uncertainty across the globe, are helping to put slight downward pressure on prices, but the Bordelais are not known for reducing their prices in a high quality vintage!

A growing group of Châteaux have moved into a category of their own, where demand exceeds supply and vintage has become less important - prices will continue to rise and we will never be able to buy enough wine. Fortunately, we are in a good position - I also buy Majestic’s Bordeaux range and endeavour to maintain and increase Lay and Wheeler’s en primeur allocations wherever possible.

It is the level below these ‘galacticos’ where, unfortunately, Robert Parker’s scores affect demand. Edouard Moeuix suggested that this vintage has such high levels of tannin and acidity that they won’t generate the same consistently high marks of the opulent 2009s, but added that we would argue for the next 40 years as to which of the two is the better vintage. On the rare occasion we tasted 2009 alongside 2010, for example at Léoville-Barton, I preferred the 2010.

So we wait. Hopefully, the campaign will be quicker and cleaner than last year. At Lay & Wheeler, our market is the UK and I am confident that this is a vintage well-suited to our customers, which will offer some dramatic results to those with patience. At whatever level you purchase from us, you can be sure that the wine has been offered genuinely, with good reason and that we will be around in two years time to deliver!

2010 has produced wines of density, intensity and power. The best have a subtle concentration and huge complexity and it will go down as one of the great Bordeaux vintages. As ever, achieving balance in wines with so much of everything is not an easy thing to achieve, but those who successfully walked this tightrope have achieved something truly special. The samples for this year were difficult to prepare for tasting: the wines were late in finishing their malolactic fermentations and some wines still had a raw feel. A proper judgement will be much easier once they have been bottled, but that is not how en primeur works!

This is a vintage in which many properties reached record levels of colour, alcohol and tannin. With raw materials like this, a gentle touch during vinification was vital. Several winemakers fermented and macerated at lower temperatures and for shorter periods than normal. Those who didn’t have produced monsters that stood out like my dry tannic thumbs at the generic tastings. The key ingredient this year though is acidity; this natural ‘seasoning’ makes the 2010s more digestible and brings refinement to the tannins and freshness to very ripe fruit.

As ever, we travelled to Bordeaux with open minds and tried to form our own opinions whilst there. Having said that, everything I had heard and knew pointed to this being a Cabernet vintage. Actually, there are successes and mistakes (not failures) across the region. Merlot-heavy Margaux was the most consistent left bank commune, perhaps because they have learned to love their Merlot a little more and planted it on gravelly soils that might be dominated by Cabernet further north? I suspect it is more likely to be the fact that there are several very well-situated Châteaux reaping the rewards of recent work and investment. The freshness of the wines this year meant that I found St-Emilion performed better than last year. The usual suspects have produced wines which will incur the fortified duty rate or be misleadingly labelled, but we will only buy them for confirmed sales. In Pomerol (impressively consistent again), Alexandre Thienpoint at Vieux-Chateau-Certan omitted most of his famed old-vine Cabernet Franc from the final blend, but marvelled at the colour, richness and tannin levels achieved by his Merlot vines. This is a wine which jumped in price last year, but one still has to say offers value for money.

There are some great Cabernet-dominated wines in the Northern Médoc, with many people using their highest-ever percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. Hard to believe, but this is a grape variety which is difficult to get fully ripe in Bordeaux. In 2010 it lapped up (excuse the pun) the drought conditions and relatively cool nights, developing extremely thick skins and highly concentrated berries. This lack of juice, and some inclement weather during the flowering of the Merlot, means that generally yields are slightly down on the norm, but many people have produced good volumes and I suspect that, where the top wines are concerned, the volume released onto the market will have more of an impact than the weather.

As ever, the Graves has provided a happy middle ground between left and right bank. The dry whites are superb and built to last and the reds had great balance and richness. Outside the top names these wines are still relatively unfashionable and so offer real value! The same goes for the Médoc; as anyone currently drinking 1990 will testify, you don’t have to be a millionaire to buy and keep good Bordeaux. Prices here remain very reasonable and many vineyards and wineries have changed beyond recognition in 20 years. I was thrilled to become a father in 2010 and will have no qualms about buying wines from Cru Bourgeois up, confident that they will still be drinking on my daughter’s 18th birthday.

Château Margaux - The first wine we tasted and one of the best wines I have ever tasted en primeur!

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - Bruno has got everything right this year, better then 3 of the first growths in my (very humble)opinion.

Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - Xavier Borie understands his terroir brilliantly and it shows - very classy.

Château Marquis de Terme - A rising star, perfumed and harmonious.

Château Chasse-Spleen - Great wine which should demonstrate the value of this vintage well.

Château Berliquet – Dense and savoury, real potential here.

Château Certan-de-May - Serious wine which showed well against much more expensive neighbours.

Château Haut-Brion Blanc - The last wine we tasted, massive yet understated and keeps better than Montrachet!