This formed part of an interview for Decanter's Bordeaux supplement with Hubert de Bouard, the owner of Saint Emilion's Chateau Angelus, to be published in June this year, but is particularly interesting right now:

'2007 is a different year, as they all are. It’s part of the charm of Bordeaux. We shouldn’t call it difficult, but different. The climate has always been very important in determining the style of individual vintages in Bordeaux. 2007 was all about good decision-making, and was good for early-ripening terroir.'

The exchange rate is very hard, the global economic crisis, the US elections, all of these things contribute to a global instability that we can’t ignore. There are always two people in a purchase – the person doing the selling, but also the person doing the buying. If enough of the buyers are constrained by global conditions, the Bordelais will have to take note.'

'I believe this year in particular, but also more generally, the usual bankrollers (that means the Bordelais negociants and also to a large extent the UK merchants) will be more resistant. They have been prepared to bankroll the chateaux for many years, but may be less willing to do so now.'

'The pool of serious brands that will be able to sell easily this year may shrink to around 30, who can sell at prices close to, or the same as, 2006. But I believe there will be others who will release too high and then find merchants saying, ‘at that price, I am not buying.’ Perhaps there will be some reappraisals of prices if they do not find buyers.'

'Many owners are too disconnected from the rest of the world, many will think they can decide the price, but the question is will the next step in the chain be prepared to take the risk? I believe we are in a worrying period where less and less of them will be prepared to do that.'

'I also don’t think consumers will be prepared to spend as much this year, and at the end of the day, we can forget that these are the people who count. Perhaps critics will have less influence than usual because not creating a stir, so consumers will take less interest in them.'

'Ten years ago, it was all about whether the Americans were going to buy or not, but today this is less important as there are other markets.'