At last a vintage for the new management at Château Cos d’Estournel to sink their teeth into. If 2014 seriously favours the left bank, then it is in St Estèphe that some of the very best wines have been produced. Cos is right up there with these. It is an extremely polished and wonderfully proportioned grand vin in 2014. It is very impressive stuff and shows genuine freshness. Les Pagodes de Cos is also an extremely layered offering, displaying lots of delicious black cherry fruit. Cos blanc, made from vineyards up the coast close to the Médoc, seriously impressed in 2013, but 2014 trumps even this. It easily ranks alongside many of the great Pessac-Léognan whites this year.

There are a number of exciting wines to consider in the Haut-Médoc in 2014. As elsewhere, the miraculous September heat and sun allowed for the proper ripening of the Cabernets, which give depth and sophistication to the blends. The vintage also displays attractive freshness. This keeps the tasting experience positive and appetizing. The Haut-Médoc crus classés such as Château Belgrave, Château Cantemerle, Château de Camensac, Château La Lagune and Château La Tour Carnet have all made excellent wines. Then there is a veritable army of others such as d’Agassac, Beaumont, Belle-Vue, Bernadotte, Clément-Pichon, Charmail, Cissac, Citran, Coufran, du Cartillon, Larose Trintaudon, Malescasse, Sénéjac and de Villegeorge, which show plenty of style and depth. I’ve no doubt these wines will give much pleasure to fans of the appellation.

Now the dust has settled on primeurs week my verdict would be that 2014 Bordeaux is a good to very good vintage for red wines, a vintage which favours the Left Bank especially, but there are also many successes on the Right Bank too. Without doubt it is the best and most consistent vintage since 2010, though it is not up to the quality of that vintage nor its predecessor 2009, with a couple of possible exceptions. 2014 is another excellent vintage for the dry white wines of Bordeaux and there are a number of stylish sweet wines from Sauternes and Barsac. Given the overall quality of the reds, 2014 is definitely a vintage worthy of purchasing en primeur, assuming the price is right. Early indications are that prices will remain stable or increase a little from 2013 for the top estates [an altogether inferior vintage for the reds]. Still given exchange rates, this will still be a reduction of between 10-20% if you are a GBP or USD customer – so if that’s your currency 2014 is potentially interesting. The litmus test usually is that chateaux must release cheaper than any physically available vintage otherwise an en primeur purchase makes no financial sense. So, even if by default, 2014 may be the first vintage since 2008 to offer decent prospects for the consumer. Fingers crossed!

Thursday’s 2014 primeurs tastings started at Château Latour and the wines showed impressive blackcurrant purity and freshness. Since Latour have withdrawn from the primeurs system, the current releases were also on show including their wonderful 2003 [more on this later]. Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste has also produced very refined and balanced wines in 2014 [including Haut-Batailley]. Lynch Moussas held the UGC tastings for St Estèphe and Pauillac. Top for me amongst the Pauillacs were Batailley, Lynch-Bages and an excellent Pichon Baron. In St Estèphe, Lafon Rochet is full and harmonious and Ormes de Pez concentrated. There was inconsistency in a few others, with hard tannins in some. At Pontet-Canet the chais was packed with visitors and the wine was round and vivacious. Pichon Lalande too has succeeded with a powerful wine with attractive fragrance. Cabernet has certainly done well in the Left Bank this year.