A Bordeaux wine expert has described the 2010 vintage as "liquid beauty".

Denis Dubourdieu, a consulting winemaker and director of the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences at the University of Bordeaux, made the claim to Agence France-Presse at the region's trade-only tasting session.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild manager Charles Chevallier explained at the event that the 2010 Bordeaux crop benefitted from a "superb" climate cycle, while improvements in cultivation techniques also helped to protect the grapes against vine disease.

He told the news agency: "We used to harvest for the health of the grapes. If there was some problem we picked the grapes before they were completely ripe.

"Now we use a precise product at the precise moment to keep our crops in perfect health."

Wall Street Journal wine critic Will Lyons recently expressed his belief that 2010 Bordeaux en primeur prices could eclipse the "stratospheric" records set by the 2009 vintage.