The art of assessing the likely future quality of very young red wines by sniffing away at what are known as ‘barrel samples’ is a decidedly arcane one. I’m no good at it and I haven’t even been within spitting distance of Bordeaux during the current en primeur campaign for the 2010 vintage. This is where the leading châteaux effectively sell their wines as ‘futures’, long before they’re bottled, let alone ready to be shipped to customers. Nonetheless, even from here, I detect among the positive early reports something ineffable playing around the edges that seems suspiciously like the smell of fear.

For most tillers of the sod, a great harvest is a cause for joy unconfined. But wine is very different from wheat or water-chestnuts. The ‘problem’ for the Bordelais is that, having already hyped to the skies three ‘vintages of the century’ in the space of its first decade — 2000, 2005 and 2009 — they find themselves with another good one on their hands. And it’s looking like it may be the best of the lot. The big question in this strange, reverse boy-who-cried-wolf scenario is, will we believe them, again?

Good vintages have often come in little clusters, and two consecutive top vintages is by no means unusual. The jury is still out regarding any influence of climate change on the current proliferation of goodies. One thing is indisputable, though: with so much money slooshing about, winemakers have invested heavily in the research and technology to enable them to make the best possible wine from the quality of fruit that Mother Nature bestows on them.