Well, it is official, 2010 Chateau Pontet Canet will be the first certified organic and biodynamic wine the estate has produced, indeed probably the first that any Médoc grand cru has ever produced I should imagine. Over twenty four hectares are now worked here with horses. One was just outside by the vineyards on the afternoon I visited [see photo below].  If you think horses and biodynamics all sounds like piffle, then taste the wine. It is wonderfully pure and harmonious.

Jean-Guillaume Prats got into a lot of trouble last year with his 2009 Cos d’Estournel. Some critics thought it was over-the-top, too alcoholic and far too much of a good thing. Others, Robert Parker included, thought it close to perfection. For me the wine tasted last November looked brilliant. The 2010 is, in fact, identical in alcoholic content to 2009, but it does manage a little more freshness and grip – though that is relative.

Palmer under Thomas Duroux and his team have made a wonderful 2010. For me it is a whisker behind the brilliant wine that they made in 2009 but that’s not a criticism. There’s more grip this year, but the wine is still wonderfully lush and perfumed, but the tannin is more noticeable and the wine will need more time to settle.

I tasted the Domaine Clarence Dillon wines last Monday at Chateau Haut-Brion without knowing their vital statistics. Nevertheless I did spot some warmth on Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, but it didn’t worry me particularly. If I hadn’t been sitting down I would have fallen over when I was told at the end that it was over 15 degrees. I’m glad I didn’t know that before because, other than the warmth, La Mission looks really good. Nearly everywhere I went during the rest of the week everyone was saying, ‘Oh but what about La Mission? Fifteen degrees – too much surely?’ Well on paper and maybe if you’ve got a bottle to yourself [though I think I could manage one alone] but I had to say that I didn’t notice La Mission was too alcoholic when I tasted it. That’s the problem with statistics, you don’t judge a wine looking at charts. Nor do you judge a feature film by its running time. If it’s engaging enough even two and a half hours flies by. Acidity is the narrative drama of a wine and it’s what is making 2010 such an interesting vintage. It is yielding wines that defy your expectations. You taste La Mission at fifteen degrees and it works.