After the last few vintages here the 2014 harvest was clearly something of a relief for Philippe Dhalluin and his team at Château Mouton-Rothschild. After scrambles to pick in 2012 and especially 2013 in the face of impending doom, 2014 proved the polar opposite. After a cool, though relatively dry August here in Pauillac, a decent vintage depended on miraculous conditions, and that is precisely what they got. The sunny, dry weather of September and October meant that after a string of vintages marred by tricky harvest weather, they finally had the time to wait and get perfect ripeness. The results speak for themselves. This is probably the strongest vintage at Mouton since 2010, with the exception of 2012 here which is no slouch. The grand vin itself is powerful, if currently backward. Fine, balanced and characterful wines have been made at Château d’Armailhac and Château Clerc Milon. 2014 is another excellent vintage for the tiny quantities of Aile d’Argent that are made on the Mouton property.

If you ignore the question of the price of 2014 Bordeaux – though the subject is the elephant in the room in every salle de degustation you visit – and just look at the wines themselves, yesterday trips to nine properties on the northern left bank shows just how impressive 2014 is at the top level. In St Estèphe Montrose and Calon Ségur have both produced breathtaking wine – both have power, scale density and freshness in their different ways. Junior siblings here – Tronquoy-Lalande and Capbern [the Gasqueton has been dropped from the name] are both irresistible. Cos continues its thoughtful progression and has produced nicely measured and precise wines in the vintage [and Cos Blanc goes from strength to strength]. At Meyney, Montrose’s close neighbour, 2014 has produced a big, strapping wine full of extract and alcohol.

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.

Baronne Philippine de Rothschild of Château Mouton-Rothschild died last Friday [22nd August] aged 80. She presided over the family company Baron Philippe de Rothschild and with her three children was owner of classed growths Armailhac and Clerc Milon as well as Mouton.