By the end of the second week of last September, when the grape harvest is usually well under way, Bordeaux’s powerful consultant winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt genuinely thought he wouldn’t be making any wine in 2008. He was far from the only one to suspect that grapes so swollen by summer rains, ravaged by mildew and threatened by rot were unlikely to survive in any flavourful form long enough to be picked and fermented into wine.

As harvest approached, the harsh malic acid in the grapes was so high that they tasted more like cooking apples. And even after they had been turned to wine – later than in living memory – the traditional second fermentation that transforms malic into softer lactic acid was difficult to start and at times seemed impossible to complete.

I asked Fiona Morrison MW, who made the delicious Le Pin 2008 Pomerol with her husband Jacques Thienpont, when they first realised the wine was going to be all right. “Two weeks ago?” was her flippant initial response, although Thienpont reminded her that straight after fermentation they had been very impressed by the colour and purity of the fruit. “We were so battered and bruised from all that sorting – wretched Merlot! – that we didn’t pay much attention to the wine at first,” she admitted.

Certainly the 100-odd wine commentators and approximately 4,500 wine merchants who descended on Bordeaux at the start of this month to taste the 2008 vintage did not expect to find such attractive wines – especially in view of what Baptiste Guinaudeau of Château Lafleur described as “a typically British, sad August” and an even wetter first half of September.

In fact, most of the reds are now tasting very well, with enough but not excessive ripeness, nice fresh acidity, and tannins reassuring in quantity and not too abrasive in quality; even at less exalted levels in Pessac-Léognan, my initial exposure to the vintage. In St-Émilion, which has produced more than its fair share of exaggerated wine styles in recent years, the 2008s seemed succulent, energetic, concentrated and only rarely over-extracted.

In next-door Pomerol – which relies on the Merlot grapes that caused so many headaches for Bordeaux vignerons in 2008’s exceptionally extended growing season of 120-125 days – the 2008 success rate was even more striking. The distinctive wines from the Pomerol-dependent J.P. Moueix stable seemed on better form than ever.

Although the performances of different châteaux vary considerably in 2008, particularly among top wines, there seemed to be no geographical weak spot. The plateau of Cantenac just south of Margaux suffered from hail at the end of May, but the resulting crop reduction may have been no bad thing – just as the unsettled, damp weather during the late flowering reduced and possibly concentrated the potential crop, especially for Merlots, and resulted in uneven ripening in virtually all districts.

François Mitjavile, of Ch Tertre-Rôteboeuf in St-Émilion, observed: “Every agronomist I have seen says they don’t understand why this year produced such a good wine. Perhaps we can say it was a very good July, or the lowest yields since 1991, but it was rainy and cold pretty much all year.”

Like 2007, 2008 was a relatively small vintage but, unlike in 2007, July was usefully dry; as dry as in 2005. Jean-Hubert Delon of Ch Léoville Las Cases attributes the success of his St Julien to a July he describes as “remarquable” – as well, of course, to the prolonged fine weather from mid-September until mid-October when, in temperatures too low for rot to spread, the last grapes were picked. Without this, the vintage really would have been mush.

The most thoughtful winemakers were aware that these grapes needed delicate handling without extracting too much of their charge of tannins. During a stint with Alexandre Thienpont of Vieux Château Certan in Pomerol, Mathilde, daughter of Burgundy’s Etienne Grivot, apparently said: “We know how to save the fruit from grapes like this”. Macerations were short: just 12 days. And the key everywhere was selection. Many producers sold significant quantities of substandard wine in bulk.

Certainly, there is no shortage of tannin or acidity in these 2008s and it could be that, for once, the primeurs tasting season caught the youthful fruit in these reds at an ideal point in their evolution. They may well firm up over the next year or two.

The dry whites are still chock-full of acidity and grapefruit-like aromas, which bodes well for their longevity, while the sweet whites are said to be lighter and fresher than the 2007s – aperitif Sauternes?

More columns at www.ft.com/robinson

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Bordeaux 2008 triumphs

Below, in recognition of the efforts they must have made, are some of the lowlier successes in 2008 red bordeaux. Even more than for the smarter wines, there should be no need to buy before they are bottled.

Ch Baret 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch Belle Vue 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Bernadotte 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Bouscaut 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch Camensac 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Carignan 2008 Côtes de Bordeaux
Ch La Chenade 2008 Lalande-de-Pomerol
Ch Les Cruzelles 2008 Lalande-de-Pomerol
Clos Les Lunelles 2008 Côtes de Castillon
Ch Fougas Maldoror 2008 Côtes de Bourg
Ch La Garde 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch de Gironville 2008 Haut-Médoc Dom de Grandmaison 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch Grand Village 2008 Bordeaux
Ch Haura 2008 Graves
Ch Haut-Gardère 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch de Malleprat, Cuvée Clémence 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch Mancèdre 2008 Pessac-Léognan
Ch Marjosse 2008 Bordeaux
Ch Mille Roses 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Paloumey 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Roque le Mayne 2008 Côtes de Castillon
Ch Sénéjac 2008 Haut-Médoc
Ch Thébot 2008 Bordeaux
Ch Tour de Gilet 2008 Bordeaux
Ch Tour de Mirambeau 2008 Bordeaux

For tasting notes and scores on more than 550 wines, see the purple pages of www.jancisrobinson.com