Primeurs week begins today in Bordeaux and the first signs are that 2014 looks to be a good vintage. After a string of comparatively mediocre years, culminating in the disappointing 2013 vintage, it is likely that 2014, after an exceptional September, has produced the most promising wines the region has seen since 2010. Much is left to be discovered and I’ve only been tasting in St Emilion this weekend but first indications are good. Still the success of the forthcoming en primeur campaign surely rests as much on price as it does upon quality [though a good quality vintage will be a relief]. After three missed opportunities by and large, can Bordeaux’s proprietors finally judge market sentiment correctly and release 2014 at prices cheaper than currently available vintages? While the weakness of the euro already guarantees a price cut in the UK and US markets, a drop in price in real terms would surely galvanise interest once more in Bordeaux in what looks to be an extremely promising vintage.

St Estèphe enjoyed an excellent vintage in 2010. The vintage showed great promise early on and later at Vinexpo at an in-depth tasting of the appellation’s wines two years ago [see those notes here]. The MW Institute’s line up of five of the top properties of the appellation last November, albeit sans over-achiever Château Meyney, shows the wines to be living up to their potential. Almost all have much more to give with further bottle age. Château Montrose is full of power and weight, but also freshness. This is yet another Montrose with years of life ahead of it. Château Calon Ségur has produced beautiful Bordeaux that has the most wonderfully moreish texture. Château Cos d’Estournel was a little backward compared with the rest, and certainly compared to its own overt 2009, but there is greater freshness and typicity to Cos in 2010. Château Cos Labory has made another chewy, substantial wine. Qualitatively it rivals their fabulous 2009.

Pauillac has produced a number of brilliant wines in 2010. There’s a lot of texture and material here. If the wines lack the creamy fruit of the come-hither 2009s, they possess extremely impressive concentration and power. Château Mouton-Rothschild led the pack of the sixteen or so wines shown late last year by the MW Institute. It is a formidable effort and was wonderful on the day. It is closely followed by Château Pichon-Longueville, which continues to show the great promise it did during its primeur days. Château Lynch-Bages, Château Pichon-Lalande, Château Pontet-Canet, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Château Lafite Rothschild have also produced very impressive wine as has Château Clerc Milon. Château Batailley is worth a special mention. It has produced excellent Pauillac in 2010 and continues a great run of recent form at this popular estate.

2010 is a very strong vintage in St Julien. The scale and grandeur of the wines, evident during primeurs and after bottling is still apparent. These are big scaled, long-term St Juliens that, once again, provide an exciting counterpoint to the heavenly, enticing wines made here in 2009. Unlike that vintage, 2010 still has much to reveal, and a number of wines are comparatively quite backward. The Léovilles are impressive here as ever. There is an exceptional effort from Château Léoville Poyferré, a currently rather backward but nevertheless impressively concentrated Château Léoville-Las-Cases and, a fraction behind, a very classical Château Léoville Barton. The real show stopper was a stand-out effort from Château Saint-Pierre which is wonderfully seductive. Château Langoa Barton, though a notch or two down from this, is very impressive. Classical and nicely composed wines have been made at Château Beychevelle, Château Branaire-Ducru, Château Lagrange and Château Talbot.