Robert Parker at The Wine Advocate ( http://www.erobertparker.com/ ) has finally released his 2008 scores. They went online late last night, and everyone is of course talking about them here in Bordeaux today.

He has scored a huge number of wines this year (compared to last, when he gave scores but no notes, and merely summed up his view of each appellation). Over 400 red wines have been noted for 2008, and many of them have received very high scores.

In his opening remarks, he says, 'It did not take me long to realize that the 2008 vintage was dramatically better than I had expected. It had all the qualities that make an excellent and in some cases, a great vintage so special: exceptionally dark opaque colors, gorgeously ripe fruit, stunning purity almost across the board, great freshness (because it was a cool year), slightly higher acids than normal, and remarkable density as well as concentration.' He compares many of the wines to the 2005 and to the 2000 vintages - something that many producers had reported him saying during the tasting week, and which they must have been relieved to see translated into print.

His top scores went to Lafite Rothschild (98-100), Ausone (96-100), Petrus (98-100) and Trotanoy (96-100). Also doing well are Pavie (96-98+), Pontet-Canet (96-98+), Ducru Beaucaillou (96-98), Troplong Mondot (95-97) and Le Dome (95-97). He gave Montrose a very high 95-97 also.

My tastes don't always coincide with Parker, but I do always enormously enjoy reading his highly intelligent reviews, and of course the inevitable digs that he gets in at other journalists in his opening remarks are worth the price of subscription alone. This year particular vitriol is reserved for blogs 'authored by anybody who can string a noun and verb together, and by many who can’t' and those who are 'totally obsessed with breaking the Bordelais, and demanding that prices come down, irrespective of quality.'

It will be interesting to see whether those well-scored wines that are yet to release will seize upon those remarks...