This morning Charlie Mount of Nyetimber Vineyards in Sussex, kindly presented us the vineyard's latest release - their 2005.

We have tasted a number of vintages of Nyetimber and really rate this fantastic English sparkling wine as a genuinely good alternative to classic Champagne. People remember the hot summer of 2003 and Nyetimber's robust Classic Cuvee 2003 has been a big success and is now all but sold out.

It's not often that an Englishman can boast of sporting success, however the mere mention of the summer of 2005 brings back nostalgic memories of our historic victory over the Australians in The Ashes cricket. It must be grudgingly conceded that our cousins from down-under have "the edge" in both climatic warmth and in their ability to produce world class still wines. But in Nyetimber, Old England can now claim to have a world class sparkling wine producer which can certainly give any Aussie fizz a run for its money!

Nyetimber recently won the International Wine & Spirits Competition Trophy for Best Worldwide Sparkling Wine for the third time (in addition to numerous other awards previously) and the 2005 is clear proof that the winery continues to go from strength to strength.

The weather in 2005 wasn't only favourable for cricket, as the long dry days of June produced ideal conditions for flowering. This was followed by a moderate mid-summer (when is an English summer not moderate?) and then a warm autumn bringing the grapes to perfect ripeness.

England's Victorious 2005 Ashes Team

The grapes were harvested in October and then vinified and left on its lees in barrel with the final blend being 62% Chardonnay, 19% Pinot Noir and 19% Pinot Meunier.

Tasting note: The colour is a straw yellow (or Australian gold?) with a nose of honeysuckle, almonds and fresh Pinot fruit. The palate is balanced superbly, with the citrus, brioche, and vanilla flavours all coming together with richness and freshness. A classy wine with great structure. Lovely enduring finish. By chance it so happened that we were tasting it next to a 2000 vintage Champagne, from a well known house and the consensus was that the Nyetimber performed the best (despite being about half the price).

We think Nyetimber 2005 outshines the excellent 2003 and is probably the best Nyetimber they have produced yet. I suggest you buy a case to enjoy this summer. You might even save a bottle or two to toast our boys when they defend the Ashes this Christmas in Australia!

A week ago we released the Farr Vintners Vintage Report and Tasting Notes for 2009 Bordeaux. Such is the huge interest in this potentially great vintage that the immediate result was that our web site crashed because of the biggest number of "hits" that we ever experienced in one day. We have now upgraded the site both with extra power and also with additional tasting notes. Customers are invited to register their interest by placing "pre-orders" and "wish-lists".

We wait for the crucial views of Robert Parker but most of the the other leading wine critics have now published their reviews. Many of these can be found on our web site by kind permission of the authors.

Decanter Magazine gives over 70 wines a score of 18/20 or above! High praise indeed. The vastly experienced, and hugely respected wine writer, Steven Spurrier states that "Many Bordeaux châteaux owners say 2009 is the best vintage the region has experienced, and I agree." He goes on to say that "Comparisons with 2005 are inevitable, with general agreement that while the latter was a more structured vintage, 2009 has more fruit, the higher alcohols are balanced by an overall freshness from natural acidity, and ageing potential is guaranteed by the highest levels of tannin ever recorded in Bordeaux." Decanter gives a perfect 20/20 only to Chateau Margaux but 6 wines score 19.5 and a further 11 score 19. Not surprisingly, it is the big names that receive the highest ratings, but with 18 points there are wines that should be reasonably priced such as Langoa Barton, Domaine de Chevalier and Malartic Lagraviere.

Jancis Robinson MW compares 2009 with 1990 "It was inevitable that the 2009 vintage would be compared with 2005, the last 'great' vintage, but although a few of the 2009s notched up exceptionally high tannin readings, they don't seem to have quite the sheer mass and tannic denseness of the 2005s, partly because so many of them have so much luscious flesh that is capable of covering up the exceptionally concentrated tannins. They reminded me more of the lush hedonism offered by the 1990s" Jancis is more cautious with her scores. There are no wines with 20 or 19.5 and just 7 wines score 19 or 19+ and all of these are First Growths except for Raymond Lafon in Sauternes. What is noticeable with the Jancis Robinson reviews, is that she rates many modestly priced wines only just behind the superstar names (which are bound to be much more expensive). Wines such as du Tertre, Chapelle de la Mission, Haut Batailley and La Dominique score 17.5. She certainly seems to be of the opinion that it is not necessary for consumers to buy only the top names in 2009. In fact, she quite dislikes some of the vintage's blockbusters such as Montrose and Cos d'Estournel.

James Suckling in The Wine Spectator is very bullish. He gives his highest possible score of 97-100 to 15 wines with 9 more receiving 96-99 including Lynch Bages. In the 97-100 bracket there are First Growths of course, but also Cos d'Estournel, Montrose and the biggest surprise of all, Malescot Saint Exupery. He writes "I love the way the wines have such opulent fruit backed by powerful tannins. Yet the tannins are round and polished. In addition, the reds are fresh and vibrant. A lot of people make comparisons to 1982, which I have to agree with to some extent but, honestly, I think they are better." His 2 favourite wines seem to be the same as ours, Latour and Mouton Rothschild. There are plenty of wines with ratings in the 90's that should be modestly priced. These include Aiguilhe, Les Cruzelles, Phelan Segur, Lagrange, Haut Simard and Les Ormes de Pez.

Derek Smedley MW comments that 2009 is not as even across the board as 2005 yet the potential for greatness reminded him of stunning years such as 1990 and 1961 (both of which Derek tasted en primeur!). He finds Saint Emilion the weakest region as some producers have got their Merlots too ripe with resulting rather burning alcohols, lack of freshness or acidities that feel bitter. On the left bank "Cabernet Sauvignon reigned supreme producing depth of flavour, richness yet sleekness and elegance". Vieux Chateau Certan is his top scoring non-First Growth

Barry Phillips includes Grand Puy Lacoste and Rauzan Segla in his list of the vintage's best wines and in his "best value" section he recommends wines such as Les Cruzelles, Lafon Rochet and Lagrange.

Neal Martin has to date only published his notes on Saint Estephe, Pauillac, Saint Julien and Margaux on eRobertParker.com. Latour and Lafite receive the top score of 98-100 with Leoville Lascases, Rauzan Segla, Montrose and Pichon Baron just behind. In fact Rauzan Segla receives the same score as Chateau Margaux. The biggest surprise is a huge 94-96 point score for the (usually) modestly priced 5th growth Chateau Batailley - higher than Pichon Lalande, Ducru Beaucaillou and Cos d'Estournel.

Today we saw the release of what will be one of the best value red wines of the 2009 vintage. Jean-Michel Cazes (of Lynch Bages) has put his Villa Bel-Air on the market at £110 in bond. This is the best vintage that we have ever tasted of this attractive, smoky Graves and it will provide delicious early drinking.

Please note that you can read this review and all the latest news as it breaks on the Latest News pages of the En Primeur section of our site.

The Farr Vintners formation tasting team headed en masse to Bordeaux last week to taste the 2009 vintage. The London sales and purchasing department was joined by Jo and Jessica who arrived overnight from Hong Kong, Barry Phillips (our guru and mentor from Chilgrove) and photographer Colin whose work will shortly be illustrating our web site.

Much to our relief, our British Airways plane took off on time from Gatwick, despite the strike, and was full to the brim with the British wine trade and wine writers including Jancis Robinson. I'd estimate that at least 70% of the passengers were on their way to the en primeur tastings

A religious experience at Petrus.

Our first stop was a negociant's warehouse which had been transformed into a vast tasting room with a huge array of samples on show. Merchants from the USA, Taiwan, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland were hard at work and we were soon joined by David Peppercorn MW who is reporting on the vintage for Decanter Magazine and James Suckling of The Wine Spectator. It was a great introduction to the vintage as we spread out around the room. Our 12 person team must have tasted well over 100 wines between them within an hour. Our next visit was to Prieure Lichine which is, I believe, the only Medoc classed growth that employs right bank wine maker Stephane Derenoncourt as a consultant. He's certainly done a great job here in 2009 and this is the best Prieure Lichine that we have ever tasted.

Monday was a long day with a punishing schedule. A visit had been organised every 30 minutes from 9am until 7pm. 10 hours of non-stop tasting of raw, young cask samples. Stamina, concentration and a multi-pack of mineral water were required. We had decided to start in the North and work our way down the Medoc so our first stop was at Calon Segur. This is one of the last great family-owned, traditional Chateaux of Bordeaux. Mme Gasqueton is in her eighties but still very active. We were met by her daughter whose son Louis worked for Farr Vintners for a few months a couple of years ago. No dolly birds and flashing neon signs here (that was later), just a few pot plants by the door and a no-nonsense tasting. Calon Segur has quite a high percentage of Merlot in the vineyard but we were surprised to find a 90% Cabernet Sauvignon wine here. This was a theme to be repeated during the day - clearly 2009 was a year in which the Cabernets achieved such perfect ripeness that the "insurance policy" of blending with other varieties was hardly necessary. There were further Saint Estephe visits to Montrose (a monster of a wine) and to the breathtaking new winery at Cos d'Estournel where everything is now in place for the first 100 point Cos. It would be more of a surprise if the 2009 here didn't receive the perfect score.

Jessica at Ducru Beaucaillou.

In Pauillac we tasted Lafite at Duhart Milon - "fiche techniques" now available in Chinese! - and a great visit to Mouton where all of the wines were singing loudly. This is one estate whose 2009's are definitely above the level of 2005. A fabulous tasting here. Latour was, no surprise, a classic (90% Cabernet Sauvignon) that continues the run of brilliant wines produced here by Frederic Engerer and a Forts de Latour to rival the best of the "super-seconds". Our great friends the Cazes family were as welcoming as ever and what a Lynch Bages they have produced this year. Certainly the most powerful and concentrated "vin de garde" here for many years. It's like the 2000 vintage on steroids.

No visit to Saint Julien would be complete without seeing Bruno Borie who had once again turned Ducru Beaucaillou into a night club. The manicured lawns and classic architecture of the exterior in sharp contrast to the purple and orange walls, candles, modern art and long-legged hostesses to be found inside. The wine is magnificent - maybe the 1961 tasted like this in its youth but it is certain that the wine trade of 1962 didn't taste it in these surroundings. We also visited Lagrange where, again, we were told that the Cabernet Sauvignons were so perfect that there was no need to use any of the vineyard's 15% Petit Verdot in the final blend. This also happened here in 2000 and we can assure you that 2009 Lagrange is a classic - and, here at least, we hope that the price will be reasonable too.

The team at Chateau Margaux

In Margaux we tasted a voluptous, creamy Chateau Palmer. In 2009 it's a velvet fist in a velvet glove! At Chateau Margaux Paul Pontallier and son Thibault showed us their wine which Paul believes to be the finest Margaux in 30 years.

On Tuesday we headed to Chateau Batailley where the "Union des Grands Crus" held a spectacular tasting. Top names such as Leoville Barton, Leoville Poyferre and Pichon Baron were on show here as well as a comprehensive array of their neighbours. A great and very consistent tasting. Likewise, the UGC event in Margaux where Barry was filmed for Japanese television (not sure what they will make of the wine trade's version of Basil Fawlty). Rauzan Segla showing outstandingly well here at what was probably the best Margaux tasting we've ever attended.

The team hard at work in the tasting tent.

We then spent a few hours in another negociant's warehouse where we were treated to our own sealed-off tasting area which was like a black tent in a dark forest surrounded by pallets stacked high with First Growth claret. There was perfect service and ideal lighting here as a brilliantly organised young team ferried a constant stream of samples to our table. We were able to taste at our leisure without having to fight through the UGC scrum to reach a spitoon.

It was then over the Dordogne to the Right Bank and a visit to Le Tertre Roteboeuf which was like stepping into a cellar in Burgundy with its mud floors and rough stone walls. The wine even tastes like Musigny - if only we could buy more of it!. Then on to Ausone (guess what, it's amazing yet again) and Jean-Luc Thunevin's famous garage where a line-up of heavyweight, inky teeth-stainers greeted us from his own vines and those of his friends. The final visit of the day was to L'Eglise Clinet where Denis Durantou received us and was presented with a fine chunk of Mrs Montgomery's extra mature Cheddar by his soulmate Barry. All of Durantou's wines were fresh and lively and quite a contrast to some of the high alcohol, jammy efforts that we tried in Saint Emilion. Denis likes to pick grapes that are "croquant" so it was fascinating to find that he had picked L'Eglise Clinet nearly a month before some of the neighbours. An inspired move we think but time will tell. Finally to one more tasting and a dinner at "Chai Pascal" a great new wine bar on the main street of Saint Emilion that we would recommend highly. Pascal used to be the cellarmaster of the famous "Caves Legrand" in Paris and seems to have quite a following in the French wine trade. There was a winemaker from Sancerre and another from Condrieu sitting at the bar and both Denis Durantou and Alain Vauthier popped in for a quick one during the evening, not the kind of people who drink in my local pub.

Today we're looking through the vine leaf window...

Our final day saw yet another whirlwind trip as we visited Cheval Blanc, L'Evangile, Le Gay, Clos l'Eglise, Vieux Chateau Certan, le Pin and Petrus as well as the UGC at Gazin. Quite a morning! Our final visit was to the closest Chateau to Bordeaux's airport - Haut Brion - which is always one of the real highlights of any trip to Bordeaux.

Amazingly we still had time, amongst all the slurping and spitting, to scribble down a few thousand tasting notes between us all. I will be spending the Easter week trying to decipher them and type them up into something legible. I will also be trying to scrub 4 days' worth of tannin off my teeth. Please watch out for our vintage report - with notes and scores on all the major wines - which should be up on the en primeur pages of our web site within a week. We will also be adding recommendations and notes from the leading independent critics as we gear up to what is going to be a busy en primeur campaign. There's no doubt that 2009 is a great vintage for Bordeaux. How great? Well, a final comment from Pierre Lurton of Chateau d'Yquem - his 2009 reminds him of the 1893!

The stunning new winery at Cos d'Estournel