The whole wine trade it seems has gone Bordeaux mad. In the wake of two very average vintages there, the prospect of a good or even great quality 2009 crop has had every merchant and many (but not all) commentators falling over themselves to tweet and blog their admiration for these nascent wines. It's not surprising I suppose; Bordeaux is the world's most famous wine region, and still accounts for a huge proportion of so-called 'fine wine' sales. Its historical association with the UK wine trade means the names Lafite, Latour and Margaux have an impossibly romantic resonance here. The sad part of it, as journalist Anthony Rose points out in his blog, is "Neither you nor I will ever be able to afford to buy, let alone drink, these wines... It's true that they're not made for mere mortals. "

So the 'sport' of following the primeurs circus becomes something akin to visiting an up-market estate agent to view a whole range of properties which one knows one will never have the slightest chance of owning. And at the same time knowing that all but a small handful are sinfully over-inflated in price anyway. Call me a spoil-sport, but I'd rather get back to the two-up two-down wines that I can actually afford to buy, and to drink.