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Bibendum Bordeaux Tasting goes down a storm - 23/04/2010

Over 900 wine lovers rushed to taste Bordeaux 2009 at Bibendum's Bordeaux Tasting on Wednesday, 21st April.

The excitement surrounding Bordeaux 2009 reached fever pitch in London on Wednesday as over 900 wine lovers, sommeliers and journalists descended on Lord's cricket ground for Bibendum's Annual Bordeaux Tasting.

The only notable absentees were some of the chateau owners who were unable to travel to London from Bordeaux owing to the infamous volcanic ash cloud. For once, it seems that the ashes and Lord's is not a perfect combination! To their credit, nearly 30 producers did travel including AXA Millesimes's Christian Seely, and the hero of the hour, Anthony Barton, who flew in by private jet so as not to disappoint his public.

Those who were able to get to Lord's had a fantastic day. Wines from over 85 chateaux were on show and the tasting featured over 75 wines from the feted 2009 vintage. Bibendum Fine Wine Director Ben Collins said: 'Many of the 2009s were simply fantastic. In many cases the wines tasted even better than they had in Bordeaux a few weeks ago. This is clearly a vintage that has produced some outstanding wines, especially in the Medoc.'

Favourites included Pontet Canet, Pichon Baron, Montrose, La Conseillante and Leoville Barton but some less celebrated names also excelled. Dauzac, Lanessan, Pibran and Tronquoy Lalande are just a few of the wines that will offer superb value for money in 2009.

In addition to the 2009s many chateaux showed an older vintage, with wines stretching back to 1994. Demand to taste wines such as Cheval Blanc 2004, Lynch Bages 2008, Leoville Las Cases 1996 and d'Yquem 1996 was unsurprisingly high.

The tasting rocked. It was the biggest public Bordeaux en primeur tasting ever held in the UK and gave wine lovers their best opportunity to taste Bordeaux 2009 before they buy the wines.

Writing on his blog (www.wineanorak.com), Jamie Goode wrote: 'I love the way Bibendum treat their private customers like adults: for the last few years they have persuaded the Bordeaux producers to send cask samples and representatives over to let customers taste the new vintage for themselves, rather than forcing them to rely on critics.'