Lucky 8

There has been much speculation that Chateau Mouton Rothschild would commission a Chinese artist to adorn their 2008 label. But, not to be outmanoeuvred by their neighbour, Chateau Lafite Rothschild has announced that their 2008 bottles will all feature the Chinese symbol for the number eight. Lafite, already the darling of the Chinese market has seen the price for the 2008 soar from £9000/cs to £10,400/cs in just a day.

Cynics may be tempted to say Lafite is cashing in with a shameless marketing gimmick, but I’m sure those who bought a case en primeur will not be complaining too much. A spokesperson from Chateau Lafite said that the ‘shape of the symbol seems to offer a perfect representation of the slopes of the vineyard (in the Penglai peninsula) and commemorates the launch of our Chinese wine project’.

First impressions

Whilst in Bordeaux last week, Hew and I had the opportunity to revisit a few wines from 2008, 2009 and even got our first glimpse at a 2010. Starting with 2008, the wines of Chateau Latour displayed real breed. The Forts de Latour was somewhat closed, but there is enormous potential here. The Grand vin was by contrast extraordinarily expressive, open and utterly seductive. We also tasted with Denis Durantou at Chateau Eglise Clinet. His 2008 Eglise Clinet is very smart indeed. Flavours are precise, cool and classy; a very serious wine. Denis’ 2009 is off the scales in terms of richness and concentration. It has fleshed out in barrel and is now the most exotic, most decadent Eglise Clinet we have sampled. There is wave after wave of sumptuous velvety fruit – a truly exceptional wine. Denis then shocked us by asking if we would like to try his 2010. He only finished picking on the 2nd of October and there we were on the 19th tasting the final assemblage... Malos will not finish for some time, but the colour was an incredibly vivid purple and the wine was already displaying great depth of flavour and big structure.

Analytically, the 2010s are off the charts. Sugar levels are exceptionally high, whilst the lack of rain has resulted in tiny berries with thick skins, so we can expect good colours and lots of structure. We look forward to tasting more in April...