Neal Martin

Neal Martin's Final Words (For Now!)

And so we arrive at our final stop. I hope you have enjoyed your journey through the 2009 vintage as much as I had tasting and writing about it. I will imminently be re-examining some of them in the UK now that merchants have cajoled châteaux into attending Primeur '09 tastings for their clients. Good thing too in my book: let the punters get their tonsils around the wines before parting with their hard-earned dosh.

By now, I am sure you have read dozens of primeur reports. For this writer, a primeur report should be more than just a "list of favourites". It ought to attempt some understanding of the wines in the context of the vagaries of a growing season, all at a regrettably premature juncture. It should describe the sentiment surrounding the vintage; the arguments it may foment (in particular for the more controversial wines) and postulate what the wines might taste like when one takes into account the élevage and previous vintages. Beyond that, I hope it has been entertaining and that you have enjoyed the humour and the photographs that have accompanied each article. I only had one week to compose the entire series, but I have done my best.

Certainly this year, I felt that there was a zeal for wine writers to be first with the news and to taste as many wines as physically possible. This sets a dangerous precedent, for the samples demand patience on the part of its evaluator, to settle in the glass, to overcome its nerves in front of the examiner. I would ask whether journalists' priority was to write the best, more accurate report possible or whether they just wanted to be the first? In your marathon tasting, did the last wine receive as much attention as the first?

Looking back over the 500+ wines, the 2009 is a great vintage, but it does not merit the sobriquet as "vintage of the century". It is a vintage that highlights where Bordeaux stands at the moment, both the good and the bad. Of course, we have to see how châteaux set their prices and the reaction from the markets, in particular the Far East, although I think their interest for primeur will focus on just the top twenty names. We will find out in the coming weeks.

This is just the first snapshot and I look forward to taking more through these wines' infancy, their teenage years, adulthood and who knows, maybe even old age. It will be intriguing to see how these comparatively high alcohol wines evolve, whether they will match the quality of the 1982, 2000 and 2005? Wine-Journal continues to re-appraise Bordeaux through their arc of their lives, so you know where to look for in bottle assessments, 10-year on retrospectives and verticals.

For now, it is time to wrap up the report. The wines are slowly being released and meanwhile, the vines have woken from their dormancy and are busy preparing for the next vintage: 2010. You know, I saw the way those vines were budding. . . I think it could be the vintage of the century.