145 Bordeaux 2008s 10 years on

As usual I took part in a major blind retrospective of the 10-year-old Bordeaux vintage. A group of us tasted 145 top examples of the 2008s, all the major reds and sweet whites apart from Petrus, of which we did not have a sample. 

The 2008 vintage had an unusual history. The growing season was pretty dismal and the best one could say was that the wines tasted a lot better than expected – sometimes in unexpected quarters. The Bordelais were not particularly confident about how well they would sell (the...