Some of you may be thoroughly fed up with all our coverage so far of the exceptional 2009 vintage in Bordeaux. I apologise and assure you that we will be touching on many other subjects next week, even if my article tomorrow is an overview of the 2009 vintage on Bordeaux's left bank.
However, I should also warn you that my tasting notes on Bordeaux 2009 are far from over. I am planning to taste quite a few more wines that I did not have a chance to see last week. I think that my tasting notes so far published include virtually all the really famous names, but I'm sure that in 2009 there are many lesser wines worthy of attention and am also sure that I have not tasted enough of them. So I am planning several more reviews here in London.
By the way, those of you who read Bordeaux 2009 – mechanics (or indeed this article in yesterday's Guardian) may be wondering about the extent to which members of my mobile tasting group – the likes of Steven Spurrier and my fellow Masters of Wine James Lawther and Fiona Morrison/Thienpont – confer about our impressions of various wines.
The sad truth is that our timetable is so rushed, and we all travel in so many cars because we stay in different places, that we hardly have any time for discussion at all. This may be a bad thing in that it allows the chance that we individually may overlook something terribly obvious, but at least it means that we end the week with our own personal impressions intact and are not swayed by herd instinct. I'm delighted to say that within our group there is no loudmouth determined to influence everyone within earshot.
Up with individuality in both wines and opinion!
And with that sentiment I set off for my annual discussion of the latest Bordeaux vintage with the mild-mannered Mr Staples of Berry Bros.
