Each year Liv-ex surveys the international wine trade upon their return from tasting the new Bordeaux vintage. The survey is designed to track the consensus of opinion amongst the best professional tasters of young Bordeaux. Liv-ex’s membership numbers more than 230 of the world’s biggest buyers and sellers of fine wine.

The 2008 survey was launched in early April and was concluded prior to the release of the major wines. The results are below.

• Lafite Rothschild is the wine of the 2008 vintage.
• Pontet Canet tops the “value for money” category.
• Montrose was the most disappointing wine.
• The vintage scored 91 (out of 100) on average.
• Release prices are expected to be down on 2007 by 38% on average.

The results above show the top 10 wines of the vintage according to the experts irrespective of price. Wines ranked number one by respondents were awarded 10 points, second were given 5 points, third 3, fourth 2 and fifth 1. Lafite was the clear winner, with two thirds of survey respondents placing it in their top five — the first time it has topped the survey rankings since the 2003 vintage. Last year’s top wine, Ausone, drops back to third place. Cheval Blanc, with joint fourth, achieves its highest ranking in seven years of Liv-ex surveys. Lafleur, Le Pin and Petrus round off a good year for the Right Bank.

Wines in the value category were ranked as above. Pontet Canet tops the table for the second time in three years, swapping places with last year’s winner Leoville Barton. Pontet Canet has now been in the value top 5 for seven years in a row.

Montrose's run of bad form continues. It has now been named as one of the two most disappointing wines of the vintage three years in a row. Fellow second growth Pichon Lalande is also making its third appearance in three years. The ranking of Margaux, usually a firm favourite of the Liv-ex survey, is more surprising, although fans should take heart in the fact that last year’s most disappointing wine, Lafite, is this year’s top performer.

91 points (average out of 100)

The average score attributed by the membership for the vintage was 91 points, with a range of 86 to 94. This is significantly higher than last year's 88, and on a par with the 2006 vintage.

1. 2001
= 2. 2006 / 2004
= 3. 2002 / 1997

There was no real consensus on comparable vintages, with 2001, 2004 and 2006 scoring relatively evenly, with 2001 just out in front. This would seem to place 2008 firmly in the ranks of the second tier vintages. Those in the trade with longer memories also compared it to 1988.

To keep our traders honest we are offering a six-pack of Haut Bailly 2004 to the individual who comes closest to estimating the correct opening prices for the basket of wines listed above. Based on their expectations, prices will be down by 38.3% on last year's levels, and 56.1% down on 2006. It was predicted by respondents that it would be the First Growths, Mission Haut Brion and Cheval Blanc that would reduce their prices the most, by between 39-46%. When the fall in the value of sterling is factored in, this would equate to a drop in prices to of around 30% for UK consumers. We will have to wait and see if this is enough of a drop to drive en primeur trade. Meanwhile, the 2007s are left looking expensive and unloved.

“Better than expected” sums up the views of most of our respondents, with a number highly enthusiastic. The better wines are said to be “fantastic”, “really stylish” and “harmonious”, showing “beautiful purity” with “lots of floral notes” – although they “lack the middle stuffing attained in warm summers like ‘05, ‘03 and ‘00”. The less successful wines “lacked structure” and were “occasionally over-extracted” with “rasping tannins”. In terms of appellation, Margaux was most often singled out as the poorest performer, with Paulliac, St Julien and St Emilion receiving the fullest praise. Most appellations, however, had both fans and detractors, with a number of respondents describing it as a vintage “that showed a lot of heterogeneity”. Regarding prices, there was a feeling that they needed to come down by “50% in GBP” for the campaign to be a success. As one respondent said “nothing really matters unless they price it right. We need the 1sts at under €100 but it will not happen”. We also asked for those that did not travel to Bordeaux for this year’s tastings to outline their reasons why. One respondent reported that they “won't even consider going unless/until the Bordelais get real on pricing”, another said they had delayed their trip and “will go in May” when the health (or not) of the campaign will be more apparent.