Financial Times

JANCIS ROBINSON MW reports back from Bordeaux, and believes that the best reds will make the wine lovers of the world fall in love with tannin again'. The great thing about the tannins in the most successful 2004 red Bordeaux is that they are not bitter or rasping but refreshing. They are not the dry, obtrusive sort that characterised so many wines made in the drought year of 2003, nor the green, underripe ones that plague the least successful 2002s.' Robinson already rates the 2004 offerings from Chteaux Latour and Margaux as excellent', with honourable mentions to Cheval Blanc, Haut-Brion, Mouton and Palmer. She adds: Many winemakers the world over, and particularly in the Americas, seem scared of tannins. Perhaps the superb quality of the best Bordeaux 2004 tannins may encourage some of these producers to return to picking the grapes when a little less ripe so that the tannins are perceptible, possibly refreshing, and alcohol levels are less embarrassingly high.'