Rarely has there ever been a better opportunity to get the wines that you have always panged for. With the worlds economy in a state of disarray I cannot anticipate their being a rush for the top wines. Demand will be making a course southwards. I have been doing the rounds about what the Bordelais feel about the 2008 vintage and naturally they are playing things close to their chests. Many of them are rich enough not to care about selling en- primeur anymore. The original idea was to discount the wine in return for your hard earned cash to help fund the stock holdings. Would I buy 2008? Well that depends upon the release prices. They will have a fair amount of stock from the post 2005 vintage so you never know they maybe looking for a deal. I can tell you for sure that the grape picking was a late one. Many chateaux chose to keep their grapes on the vine as long as possible because of a real curate’s egg of summer. In fact you have to go back to 1983 and 1986 for similar conditions. Neither of these were great vintages. Having said that they were not bad either: being wines for consumption rather than investment. I remember a merchant in Bordeaux saying that the great vintages needed great wines and of course a booming world economy. He continued to point out that higher prices would help preserve stocks. Having send what has happened over the last few years in the bull market that engulfed the world then I think his comments are inaccurate. We were selling the top wines almost irrespective of price. Please forgive me for digressing. My approach to the 2008 Bordeaux en-primeurs would be to wait and see what comes out of the barrels. This we will know during the spring. A further caveat is to see at what prices before making my decision. I reckon if you are canny enough you could get a bargain or two! Welovefinewines.com will be offering a great selection of the En Primeur 2008 wines, visit our Bordeaux En Primeurs 2008 section for futher information