(Decanter) - 'Brittle' and 'lots of make-up' were two of the comments from critics as London had its first look at the 2012 vintage from Bordeaux’s Right Bank properties. Tuesday night’s annual London en primeur tasting of the Cercle Rive Droite – a group of some 35 chateaux from St Emilion, Pomerol and their satellite communes – is regarded by critics as unrepresentative and highly selective, but nevertheless an interesting early look at the en primeur vintage.

Many of the wines have scarcely finished malolactic fermentation, and almost all have heavy doses of new oak.

Critics found the wines highly aromatic, many with fine ripe tannins and good depth of fruit, but it is by no means a homogenous vintage on the right bank, with some wines having thin, insipid fruit and patchy underripe tannins. ‘Brittle’ was one critic’s brief comment.