A taste of Bordeaux 2010 at Château La Mission Haut-Brion: Both first growth Haut-Brion and its sister wine, La Mission Haut-Brion, are very big wines indeed in 2010. La Mission is an extraordinary 15.1% alcohol. It didn't taste hot to me though, although I marginally preferred Haut-Brion. Both are controversial this year, but I have feeling that Haut-Brion will be very good indeed.

On a Mission

A Tower of Power: At first glance, the wines of Château Latour look stupendous in this vintage. Les Forts de Latour, not really a second wine because it has its own vineyards, is the equal of a good cru classé. With 90.5% cabernet sauvignon and at 14.4% alcohol, Château Latour itself is locked in a vice-like grip of iron and should emerge from its shell in about 20 years time. Note the horses in the vineyard.

Will the real Château Latour...

...stand up

Tasting at Château Pontet Canet: Pauillac Château Pontet Canet under Alfred Tesseron and Jean-Michel Comme, has added a fourth horse, Surprise, to its existing stable of three horses that work biodynamic vineyards. The quality has gone up in recent years, so much so that it is now exceeding its fifth growth cru classé status, not least in 2010.

Alfred Tesseron and Jean-Michel Comme with plenty to smile about in 2010

Pretty as a Picture: Château Margaux on a Sunny Spring Afternoon

Corinne Mentzelopoulos, Paul Pontallier, Alexandra Mentzelopoulos, Château Margaux: Keen to bring the younger generation on at Chateau Margaux, Corinne Mentelopoulos introduced winemaker Paul Pontallier's son, Thibault, at the tasting, and her daughter Alexandra. Pontallier described Château Margaux as a 100-year wine and its second wine, Pavillon Rouge, as the best ever. Amazingly, Château Margaux, 90% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot and 1.5% each cabernet franc and petit verdot, is only 13.5% alcohol. Barrel samples tasted at the château were wonderfully complete and elegant, Pavillon Rouge too.

Inside Château Cos d'Estournel: The second growth Château Cos d'Estournel has long been one of my all-time favourites. I was less keen on its last year, but it seems to have turned a corner even if at 78% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot, 2% cabernet franc and 1% merlot, it is a big, rich, muscular wine in 2010. It may well prove to be controversial again. Its second wine, Les Pagodes de Cos, is also pretty monumental. At almost every château I went to, there was a large group of Asian visitors. Given its studied chinoiserie, it seemed more appropriate than ever in the dark nightclubby tasting room at Cos.

Château Cos d'Estournel's Jean-Guillaume Prats in the tenebrous gloaming of Cos's tasting room

Philippe Dhalluin, MD of Château Mouton-Rothschild: Pauillac first growth Château Mouton-Rothschild looks to have made a better effort this year than last, but the likely value from this stable will be Château Clerc-Milon, 50% cabernet sauvignon, 36% merlot, 11% cabernet franc, 2% petit verdot and 1% carmenère. The sample tasted delicious this year, and will only be a fraction of the price of big brother, Mouton.

Château Cantemerle: Château Cantemerle never looked as beautiful as it did on an extraordinarily sunny Friday morning in early April. Host to the Union des Grands crus tasting of Haut--Médoc, St-Julien, Pauillac and St.Estèphe, its lawns and parks were an oasis of cool and calm in the middle of a frenetic week. Oh, and the wine wasn't too shabby either.

The Union des Grands Crus Tasting at Château Cantemerle: Stephen Brook, Jancis Robinson, Jane MacQuitty

Lady Langoa?: For it is she: Liliane Barton of Châteaux Léoville-Barton and Langoa-Barton, both very attractive in the tasting line-up. Liliane Barton invited me in for Sunday lunch when i was hanging round outside the gates of Château Langoa-Barton long before I had even thought of becoming a wine journalist. At the lunch I met her father Anthony and his uncle, Ronald Barton. St-Julien 2nd growth Léoville-Barton is consistently one of the best and most reasonably priced 'superseconds'.

Goodbye Médoc...: Both these two fourth growth cru classé châteaux, Talbot and Beychevelle, showed very well when barrel samples were tasted at the Union des Grands Crus blind tastings.

...Hello St-Emilion: St-Emilion is controversial in 2010 because the merlot often reached unprecedently high alcohol levels. On occasions the wines are overripe and porty and too hefty for their own good. However, there were some potentially great St-Emilions, among them, Figeac, Troplong Mondot and this one, Château Canon. At first growth level, Château Cheval Blanc looked superb, Ausone outstanding and a candidate for wine of the vintage.

Château L'Angélus seems to have made a lovely wine in 2010

Up on the plateau of St.Emilion where limestone rules

Professor Denis Dubourdieu...: Denis Dubourdieu is a whizz at white wines and his Clos Floridène is pretty smart, He says that dry whites are more refreshing and vibrant than last year and closer to 2008 in style. He is not wrong. His Sauternes, Doisy-Daëne was one of the better sweet wine samples in a patchy year for Sauternes, the little-seen L'Extravagance, extravagantly good.

and Dubourdieu Jnr.

Across the road from St-Emilion: welcome to Pomerol: Pomerol seems more consistent than St-Emilion in 2010. Could it be the clay soil? I suspect one of the wines of the vintage will be tiny Château Le Pin, made by Jacques Thienpont and his wife, Fiona Thienpont MW. Both Le Pin and the tighter and seemingly more concentrated Château Pétrus are 100% merlot, but Le Pin stands out at this point as the most elegant and Burgundian of all Bordeaux. Quite gorgeous. Shame I'll never be able to afford to drink it.

Vieux Château Certan: Another potential Pomerol success in 2010, this wonderfully seductive wine from Alexandre Thienpont is 86% merlot, 8% cabernet franc and 6% cabernet sauvignon. According to Thienpont, this is a once in a lifetime vintage, and he compares this wine to the 1948. Ah yes the '48!

Here's looking at Sauternes...: ...or more particularly Bérénice Lurton's Château Climens. She doesn't show her wine at the Union des Grands Crus tasting but if you go to the château, she'll give you seven different components of the final blend to taste. They tasted quite superb this year, better than any other Sauternes, Château d'Yquem included.

Bye Bye Bordeaux 2010 week. The view from my hotel at Château Pey La Tour in Entre-Deux-Mers. Tough Life