Bated breath in Bordeaux

The vendage has started in Bordeaux, the world's finest wine growing region. For the Bordelaise every year is a great year - for the press, who do not really like Bordeaux (too arrogant, French etc), a shower means that disaster looms. The reality is that the quality of the harvest is determined by what has happened during the entire growing season. Rain during the harvest, although not much fun for picking grapes, does not really make a great deal of difference, unless there is torrential rain for a week or so.

The 2008 growing season in Bordeaux is late, and the flowering was not that successful so the quantities produced will be smaller than average – in theory, good for the quality. The smaller the harvest, the more concentrated the grapes and the better the wine. The lateness of the harvest is more of a risk as the challenge is to ensure optimum ripeness.

The white grapes in Bordeaux have already been picked, as they ripen 2-3 weeks earlier than the red. The quantity was between 50 to 75 per cent of the 2007 harvest - the quality will be above average. Bordeaux, though, is really about the red grape harvest.

To bring you up to the minute information I have been in touch with my friend, Jonathan Maltus of Chateau Teyssier, who has 47 hectares (a lot) of vines in St