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.

Top 2010 Haut-Médoc continue to develop successfully if the four crus classés shown at the MW Institute last November are anything to go by. Château Cantemerle 2010 seems equal in quality, if not quite in style, to the prodigious 2009 here. There is more structure and tension in the wine in this vintage but it is another brilliant effort. The same too goes for Château La Lagune. Clearly it has depth, structure and plenty of matter but is currently closed. Château de Camensac has turned in a vibrantly styled wine with its usual emphasis on vigour and freshness. Château Belgrave looks especially successful. It has produced a pure, plump and very complete Haut-Médoc which must go down as one of the finest wines this property has yet produced.

The MW Institute’s Annual Claret tasting of over one hundred top chateaux held last November was a good opportunity to assess how the 2010 Bordeaux vintage is developing. There is no doubt that this is a great vintage for many reds. It has been pretty consistent from cask to bottle, a vintage generally much more classical than the precocious and forward 2009, but of similarly prodigious quality. Taken together these two vintages make an exceptional back-to-back duo for Bordeaux, especially so on the Left Bank and in Pessac-Léognan. The same can also be said for Sauternes and Barsac. Pomerol and St Emilion once again have made many excellent wines in 2010, often extremely well endowed and big framed, though sometimes too much so in St Emilion when they nudge sixteen degrees.

Moulis and Listrac are two of my favourite appellations in Bordeaux for value. The wines have a reputation for being full-flavoured and gutsy but the top wines have as much finesse as the Haut-Médoc classed growths. 2012 looks to have produced good wines in these districts. Though they are not the show-stoppers of 2009 and 2010, they seem to have more harmony than 2007, 2011 and 2013 and are more forward and immediately enjoyable than 2008 was at the same stage. The stand-out for me this year across both appellations was Château Maucaillou which has produced a delicious wine. Château Poujeaux, Château Fourcas Hosten and Château Fourcas Dupré also look successful in 2012.