Sniffing out Bordeaux wine futures

THE current coverage about the 2015 vintage in Burgundy and Bordeaux in the wine press is reminiscent of the enthusiastic wine press reviews in May-June 1983 about the (now-legendary) Bordeaux 1982 vintage.

Having just begun an interest in wine, including collecting, I realised that this was a huge stroke of luck, to be able to catch this great vintage on release from the chateaux.

I was also fortunate to be introduced to Decanter, then the premium wine magazine. Its Bordeaux 1982 reports proved immensely helpful for their recommendations of the best of the new releases.

Armed with this information from Decanter, and not being at the time familiar (at all) with Bordeaux, neither the chateaux nor the trade, one was forced to rely on sources in the London trade -…