2003 first growths at 10

The 2003 vintage was a controversial one, you may remember. My distaste for Ch Pavie 2003 in particular sparked a rather overblown row between me and my friend Robert Parker. In 2008 we literally kissed and made up in the breakfast room of our Bordeaux hotel as reported in Robinson and Parker in clinch.

The summer was extremely hot and dry. This was the year when many elderly people literally died of dehydration, and the grapes and vines suffered too. Thin-skinned Merlots on drier soils were the most severely affected. Older Cabernet Sauvignon vines on damper and particularly privileged...