Bordeaux 2009 the hype has already started but….

to be honest there is very little reason, so far (the vintage is just over half done), not to hype (a verb??).

It's been a textbook growing season “2005 with knobs on”, classically warm with good sun and cool nights. The quality looks equally good on both “banks” and the crop is an average size if not a fraction larger, all good stuff.....

Half our buying team (which gave the team a briefing this morning) came back yesterday whilst the other half stays to see the week out…so there will be more updates to come.

Meanwhile we are in the middle of Spanish season with the release of Psi, Flor de Pingus and Pingus 2008, see entry back in August for tasting notes and comments.

I need to get my IT sorted for a trip out to Burgundy (from where I will blog and twitter!) at the end of October.

My punting hasn't gone well so far this month, roll on the rain and "proper" (Jumps!) racing. Sebastiano should get a run at some stage in October as long as a bit of the aforementioned rain arrives. Plan this season is a couple of runs in Novice Chases. Then we'll see from there whether he sticks to chasing or possible reverts to hurdles (over which he had a good season the year before last with a win and a decent second). The good news is that both his Chase and Hurdle handicap ratings look "win-able-off" if that serves it's purpose as a word!

Rugby wise, my club Finchley has not started well (nothing new there), yesterday I had the chance to meet a hero of mine in Jason Leonard - what a brilliant bloke, a legend of the game! No anti-climax there!