What was extraordinary when tasting hundreds of samples of young 2007 bordeaux earlier this month was how good the whites looked. Along with hundreds of other commentators and merchants, I spent a long week in Bordeaux as usual in search of some of the world’s most exciting ageworthy, firm, dry reds but found instead a gaggle of soft, gentle little things that struggled to make much impact on the palate. Whenever I went from reds to whites, however, the order producers of both colours prefer, it was difficult not to be struck by how much more guts the whites had – particularly, but not exclusively, the sweet whites for which 2007 was such a good year, even if without perhaps the finesse of the 2001s.

When I think about the all-important reds, I find it difficult to think of wines I felt I absolutely had to buy. And when you are told even at a first growth such as Château Margaux that you could think about drinking the grand vin almost straight away, then it is difficult to see why wine collectors who already own much older wines would be keen to fork out first-growth prices for the 2007s – especially in currencies such as the pound and the dollar that have lost so much value against the euro.