He has been tasting from barrel in the Cote d’Or since 1978 (almost as long as our Chairman...). His publication, Burghound.com has become a bible for Burgundy enthusiasts throughout the world, offering straight talking, honest reporting and tasting notes. So, what does he make of the 2008s?

`At their best, the ‘08s Côte de Nuits reds are excellent wines with vibrant acidities that speak clearly and eloquently of their underlying terroirs. They are refreshing, energetic, balanced, fresh, intense, pure and racy middle weight wines that generally carry low alcoholic levels and display ample amounts of those ineffable qualities of tension and presence. In short, they’re classic burgundies of delicacy, finesse and grace. Moreover, they should prove to be worthy cellar candidates for aging over the medium-term`.

Who will join the list of luminaries that includes Prince Charles, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali? Mouton is keeping tight lipped; Hervé Berland told Decanter that ‘no decision has been made to date’. But investors have sniffed an opportunity. A Chinese artist and an eight in the vintage could make Mouton the new darling of the Orient. The official announcement won’t be made until later this year, but it looks very much like the cat is already out of the bag...

For interested parties, we have just received our 4th tranche allocation at more than double the price of our 1st release! Find out more here.

A two hour trip from Bordeaux town along icy roads strewn with abandoned cars led them to the Medoc's northernmost village of St Estephe, and an estate at the very top of its game. Jean-Guillaume Prats had also braved the icy roads and was there to present Cos d'Estournel 2009.

"Monumental" was the word Hew put forward when asked to describe it in a single word.

Firstly, we’d like to wish all our readers a very happy New Year and secondly, a quick heads-up... our January bin end offer will be released tomorrow; so keep your eyes peeled for all those wonderful bargains...

It’s also worth mentioning our Burgundy 2008 tasting and offer. If you’ve been following Giles’ and Hew’s adventures in the Cote d’Or on our blog and want to taste/buy for yourself, we go-live next week.