2015 GPL, Carmes, SHLs, Durfort, Poyferre, Saint-Pierre, Gruaud, Talbot 

(oh, and dare I mention them, Rauzan and Ca…)

Like a virtual safety car, Vinexpo has ended and the action resumes. I suspect Nicolas Audebert already had his engine running and his tyres warmed up before hitting "send" on his email last thing on Tuesday evening. As I've already said to many customers, although it was a nice problem to have, he was stuck between a rock and one of the massive Canon gateposts when setting prices for the hugely acclaimed 2015 Rauzan-Segla and Canon. Too cheap and he risked upsetting customers by not supplying demand; too expensive and he'd be playing straight into the hands of the Bordeaux bashers. As it was, he veered slightly towards the former. If you're quick, you might still catch a Rauzan. We're currently trying to divvy up our little Canon allocation as fairly as possible.

These releases unleashed a wave of traffic. Yesterday afternoon came the beautiful Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Svelte, beguiling and silky are some of Neal Martin's descriptives. To proprietor Xavier Borie, it recalls the '85, but with better Cabernet Sauvignon now that the vines are more mature.

This afternoon we have Carmes Haut-Brion, one of the rising stars of Pessac-Leognan following a huge programme of investment by Patrice Pichet head of the Bordeaux property developer, Groupe Pichet who bought this small estate near Haut-Brion in 2010. From Florence and Daniel Cathiard, another industrious family in the Graves, we have Smith-Haut-Lafitte red and white, both of which are every bit as good as we would expect.

In Margaux, 2015 is the third entirely biodynamic vintage at Gonzague Lurton's Durfort-Vivens. It's never the easiest wine to taste en primeur because it needs time to develop. This is good news for consumers because there's no risk of high scores inflating the release price. But as anyone who drinks it after 10 years in bottle appreciates, this is a beautiful, classic Margaux which is building a loyal following.

Up the road to St-Julien for the rest of the action. Leoville-Poyferre wasn't as flamboyant as usual, and for that I deducted a point or two which put it behind the lovely (and still available) Leoville-Barton. Saint-Pierre, Gruaud and Talbot all showed well during our week in Bordeaux, and have sold set of scores from the critics. The trouble is, this vintage, that "well" wasn't good enough, and I suspect that these will be overlooked. /AR

Offered subject to remaining unsold; available 2018