Eighteen months ago, the en primeur campaign for 2012 bordeaux limped into view with all the energy and joie de vivre of a knackered old Blackpool donkey. Sure enough, it was quickly forgotten about, metaphorically despatched to the glue factory – or perhaps the industrial distillery. There was much consternation on the Bordeaux place, with the would-be sellers left with overstocked cellars, but the rest of the wine world carried on about its business, largely indifferent.
For the Cru Bourgeois organisation to present its members' 2012 red bordeaux to the market in such a context is therefore no easy...