(Decanter) - Excitement for the Bordeaux 2015 vintage is being tempered by early trepidation over possible release prices as en primeur tasting week begins in the region's vineyards.

(Decanter) - Many châteaux are expecting extra visitors to taste the Bordeaux 2015 vintage en primeur, with American tasters in particular set to turn out in greater numbers.

Anticipation has been building for a vintage already pitched as somewhere between good and great – albeit considered unlikely to match the power of the lauded 2010.

But, there are clearly nerves around the pricing of the subsequent en primeur campaign, following several difficult years for Bordeaux negociants and non-Bordeaux merchants. Consumers have on average made a loss in five of the last eight campaigns, according to Liv-ex.

Even if the wines live up to the pre-tasting hype, one trade source told Decanter.com in Bordeaux, ‘If someone comes out early with a ridiculous price, it will kill it [the campaign].’

Bordeaux 2015 en primeur wines: Early signs

Throngs of wine critics from all over the world, and including Decanter’s own expert team, will spend the next several days tasting and rating hundreds of Bordeaux 2015 en primeur wines.

It was a slightly unusual growing season for the Bordelais. A brief, solid flowering period was followed by several weeks of sunny, warm weather and drought, and then storms and rain in August.

There was respite from the rain in September, although northern Medoc appellations, such as Pauillac and St-Estephe, had to deal with several extra days of wet weather versus those further south.

‘It was such an extraordinary year,’ said Edouard Moueix, of negociant JP Moueix, at a recent Justerini & Brooks (J&B) tasting in London. ‘There were tornados in the Charents.’

Some Right Bank estates were very upbeat in Bordeaux this week. ‘I have been here for 15 years and it’s the best vintage we have produced,’ said Emmanuel de Saint Salvy, general manager of Bellefont-Belcier, which hosted a tasting for the Grand Cercle group of producers.