Many French vineyards are suffering from a glut that is destroying their traditional way of life.
Not in Bordeaux, however, where demand for the exceptional Bordeaux 2005 vintage is likely to smash pricing records and leave many enthusiasts floundering to secure cases of wine.
The region's producers have just entered the closing stages of the en primeur sales campaign. Also known as wine futures, this involves the sale of wines before they are bottled and ready for delivery.
Because the 2005 vintage is being viewed as an all-time great, prices are almost certain to be eye-wateringly high. This week Chateau Haut-Brion was the first of the A-list "first growth" Bordeaux wines to be sold.
Amanda Skinner of Lay & Wheeler, a British merchant, said it had been sold at € 240 a bottle to negociants, who resell to merchants around the world. This was by a long way a record for Haut-Brion, she said: "I don't think it is out of kilter for the quality of wine they have made."
Prices paid by consumers will be even more stratospheric. Simon Staples of Berry Bros & Rudd, another merchant, said the public could well have to pay about £4,000 (€5,800) for a case of 12 bottles for the likes of Chateau Latour and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, about double the record. Mr Staples said his company had received orders for 6,500 cases of Chateau Latour. However, he has resigned himself to receiving only about 500, because there is not enough to go around.
Ms Skinner agreed that there had been "unprecedented" demand from clients. "I thought that the 2000 vintage would be the biggest of my lifetime. This knocks 2000 into the shade."
In tastings preceding the en primeur campaign, 2005 wines from Bordeaux received rave reviews. Pierre Lurton, chairman of Chateau Cheval Blanc, one of the heavyweights still to announce prices, said the vintage was "absolutely incredible".
Chateau Cheval Blanc is owned by Bernard Arnault, chief executive of Moet, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton. As Louis Vuitton have found new markets for fashion in China and Russia, the biggest names in Bordeaux wine have also appealed to new wealth in emerging markets.
