First things first: 2006 bordeaux is not a vintage of the century like 2005. Nor is it a notch below, like the excellent 2000 and 1990 vintages. Having tasted several hundred of the early samples, which are still maturing in cask, at best what they deliver is merely an above-average harvest, most notably among the stylish dry bordeaux blancs and the surprisingly delicious, lighter, early-maturing wines from Pomerol. Only a very few fine wines outclass the 2005s.

As usual, beware the Bordelais and British wine merchants' blatant, broad-brush pronouncements, claims and distortions. Shame especially on Lay & Wheeler for generalising that in 2006: "Merlot was particularly successful on the right bank, whilst cabernet sauvignon flourished on the left". Ditto Berry Bros & Rudd's buyers who should be sectioned if they think that the opportunistic Bordelais are going to drop their 2006 prices by 70 per cent on the 2005s just because they say so. Most proprietors will take the grossly inflated 2005 vintage prices as their benchmark, rather than working up from the more modest 2004 levels. No wonder major British bordeaux merchants are doubtful of selling even 15 per cent of the quantity they sold of 2005.

Climate, cash and hard work are the key to worthwhile 2006 bordeaux. Initially, all was set fair but alternating heat, cold and rainy storms culminated in high humidity and rampant rot in September for the ill-prepared, and heavy rain again that month effectively cut the harvest in two. Those producers in the best, rain-resistant spots who had bothered, as Corney & Barrow put it, with the "meticulous preventative vineyard husbandry" of crop thinning, leaf plucking and bunch thinning could harvest ripe early-maturing merlot before and after the rain. Similary, well-tended, well-situated late-maturing cabernet sauvignon vineyards that were picked at full ripeness in October fared better than those who cropped earlier.

Vigilant producers who made the right decisions at the right times did so at some cost, though. J-P Moueix, responsible for world-famous Pétrus, face a bill for 12,000 additional man-hours in the vineyard, others for sorting rotten, damaged, or unripe grapes. First-growth properties Margaux and Latour rejected almost two thirds of their crop for their grand vin, or top wine. Indeed, as one honest Bordeaux merchant put it, most producers made a wide range of quality at each property, with ropey merlot and cabernet sauvignon, plus dire, green, petit verdot and cabernet franc all part of the uneven 2006 Bordeaux crop. How much, or how little, ended up in the finished wines and how much the Bordelais want to charge you for the privilege of buying it, I'll let you know when the prices are out.

Until then, take it from me: 2006 is not a must-buy Bordeaux vintage.

jane.macquitty@thetimes.co.uk

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