We were keen to be off and, after a short detour via the annual Bordeaux vs UK trade XI cricket match to witness Jasper Morris’s glorious four wickets which helped to bring the match to a swift conclusion, we headed off to unpack and prepare for our first tasting of the 2008s.

We were served 2008 Ch. du Tertre, Ch. Giscours and Ch. Haut-Bailly and it must be said that we were genuinely pleasantly surprised. The du Tertre was delicate but very pretty and pure whilst the Giscours had more depth and weight and the Haut-Bailly was superbly concentrated with big, soft tannins that we found ourselves chewing for some time afterwards. All in all it has been a promising start. If the rest of the wines continue in this vein then Bordeaux ’08 could well surprise us all.

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