These days there seem to be no end of people desperate to evaluate a vintage as early as possible. Everyone wants the first scoop, regardless of whether the wines are in a state that allows fair evaluation. During this most recent trip I even heard of notes being published from cloudy, still fermenting tank samples. Now I may be wrong, but it seems to me that unless you are a highly practiced winemaker, this is surely simple conjecture? Be that as it may, many had put forth their views and as a result my mood as I prepared for my trip was somewhat pessimistic. To put it bluntly I feared painful teeth and tart, rather aggressively acidic wines. 

But let it be known here, straight away: my fear was unfounded – there are some very good wines in this vintage. Indeed there are some that rank in the realms of truly excellent.  Make no mistake, no-one is suggesting that this was an easy vintage. In fact, as late as the start of October many growers feared a truly disastrous vintage.