Some vignettes from the Bordeaux 2002 tastings

On a beautiful spring morning (April Fool's Day), just returned from tasting Cheval Blanc to Ch Franc Mayne just west of St Emilion (very comfortably appointed by AXA's interior decoration team before they sold the property to Georgy Fourcroy of Mandarine Napoléon fame and so nowadays a very pretty hotel with its own garden and six rooms at 138 and 199 euros apiece (tel +33 5 57 24 62 61). Amazing how many people can get up in time for a 9am tasting when first growths are involved.

Brought up short by the sight of a vineyard worker on a...