Our last two days were spent on the right bank. Friday started off rather grey and gloomy but with a cracker of a schedule. There is a palpable sense of achievement in the bus that we have now tasted a lot of wines and are at the business end of the week, Friday and Saturday involving visits to some of the core C&B producers.

First up, Cheval Blanc. We were a little early, so had a wander onto the roof of the futuristic new winery, which is planted with mature trees and is no doubt the best place in Saint-Émilion for a sundowner. Inside, the concrete fermentation vats are individually sized to match the average yields of the parcels which will go into them. You would be forgiven for failing to realise you are in a winery, as the spotless vat room looks more like an installation of modern sculpture. The wine itself is polished and, in the context of the vintage, a success. 2013 was, unfortunately, a year where money talked – those with the resources did well. A Darwinian vintage, not a problem for alphas such as Cheval Blanc.

Next to Louis Mitjavile at Domaine de l’Aurage in the Cotes de Castillon. These wines continue to show well and dependably, and will remain a fabulous “way in” to Bordeaux for many of our customers. Louis kindly subjected himself to a video interview for our website. We have done several interviews in the course of this week, which have produced some insightful and occasionally amusing material. It is especially useful to quiz someone with as much technical know-how as Louis – a true scientist who wears his learning lightly.

L’Eglise Clinet could be called a garagiste operation, at least in that its premises resemble an oversized garage. Not easy to find, until you realise the clue is in the name: it is between Chateau Clinet and the local church. The unassuming Denis Durantou pottered around the gallery-like space in trainers, pouring and chatting. L’Eglise Clinet is a serious wine, one of the big-hitting Pomerols, but it ain’t cheap and I found myself wondering whether Durantou’s humbler Lalande de Pomerols, La Chenade and Les Cruzelles, were in fact rather outstanding value.

Next, one of the highlights of the week: the big daddy of the right bank, Petrus. No sportswear here – tweed is de rigeur. We were greeted by the full team of Jean-Claude Berrouet and son Olivier, who has now taken over from his father  as technical director, and commercial director Christophe Jacquemin-Sablon. Petrus is no exception to the spate of recent property development in Bordeaux, and we interviewed Olivier in the salubrious renovated courtyard. It perhaps says a lot for Petrus’ standing in the region that several of the neighbouring chateaux owners had been invited to taste and were comparing notes in hushed and rather reverential tones.

The Tertre Roteboeuf visit and lunch with unrivalled philosopher vigneron Francois Mitjavile reinforced my opinion that here is a winemaker who consistently defies the so-called off vintages. The 2013 Tertre Roteboeuf and Roc de Cambes are both very complete wines, with none of the levity in the mid-palate which we encountered elsewhere. It is a brave producer this year who allows you to taste the new vintage alongside the 2012s, but this is exactly what Francois did, and the ’13s came out much better than I would have anticipated. I remember the same unexpected outcome from the 2007 vintage: we invited customers in London to taste blind a selection of the ’07s and Tertre Roteboeuf was the overall favourite, against a field which included first growths.

And so we reached the light at the end of the tunnel, Saturday. While the majority of the wine trade and press were presumably hotfooting it back to Merignac airport, we were bound for Libourne. At the steering wheel for one last time was the fabulous Helen, longstanding C&B driver extraordinaire, who not only had to put up with a week of schoolboy humour from the back of the bus, but even gave us each a farewell present. After a very rainy couple of days, we stepped out into bright sunshine on the riverbank by Libourne bridge, searching for sunglasses at the bottom of bags.

We were greeted by Christian and Edouard Moueix in the deserted riverside offices of Ets J-P Moueix. This was perhaps the most civilised tasting of the week – a large room with tables and chairs, in which we were left to taste at our leisure, in glorious uninterrupted silence. This may sound like a detail, but alongside the UGC tastings which are a melee of noise, heat and jostling at the spitoons, this is a rare and much appreciated luxury. After we had all tasted the 15 wines on show, we had a short debrief to compare notes. The verdict was unanimous – a year of purity and perfume, a year for good quality early drinking. I can honestly say that I tasted few wines this week which have been so sensitively handled, with such attention to the idiosyncrasies of the vintage. Tannins are supple and melded, grippiness contributes to texture and structure, but is never overdone. The Moueix 2013s are, in the context of the growing season, impeccably turned out. Much like their creators in fact.

Once the business part of the day was over, we drove in convoy to Christian’s beautiful riverside home for a glass of Champagne and – unexpectedly – a Grand National sweepstake. Adam stepped in to avoid embarrassment by subbing for those of us who had left our wallets to the care of Helen in the bus. Of all the visits this week, this was the one I least expected would require cash! The lunch was the perfect conclusion to the week, and the interview with Christian proved to be one of the most insightful. Our leading question for the interviews was “Which three words would you use to describe the 2013 vintage?” Without skipping a beat, the unflappable and understated response came back: “challenging”, “humidity” and “pleasant”. While this vintage was undeniably two thirds pain, the remainder – the outcome and the legacy – was pleasure. And once the journalists have filed their articles, once the trade are back at their desks, once the wines are lying in somebody’s cellar, pleasure is what this is all about.