Wine experts are unanimous that 2005 Bordeaux is the greatest vintage in living memory. This has been revealed during the week of wine tastings at the Union des Grands Crus Tastings, held in France, as young wines from the leading Chateaux were being sampled by foreign buyers and journalists.

Each spring, the great wine-growing properties of Bordeaux produce young barrel sample as from the previous year’s harvest. This is called “en primeur”, a trade term for wine that is sold as a “future”, before it is bottled.

The en primeur is then tasted and assessed by members of the international wine trade in Bordeaux. Depending on their criticism, prices are then set. The wine will stay in barrels and will be bottled and shipped to customers two years later. It is expected that the prices of the 2005 vintage will be astronomical.

But there is a slither of good news. Not only have the famous names made good wine in 2005, but many of the more modestly priced petits chateaux have also produced some very successful examples and, what is even more relevant to us here in Malta, at much more affordable prices. Such good-value labels will be well worth buying en primeur either for investment or more simply for pure drinking pleasure in the years to come.

This month, Wands Limited, Malta’s leading fine wine merchant, is launching its en primeur offers on a selection of superb Bordeaux 2005 vintages from the best Chateaux to connoisseurs and wine lovers. This en primeur wine will be shipped to Malta in spring 2008.