After two exceptional years for Bordeaux wine, some may have been forgiven for thinking that the region would be keen to make it a hat-trick.
The 2009 Bordeaux vintage was named by eminent critic Robert Parker, founder of drinkers' bible The Wine Advocate, as one of the finest ever made - praise that led to record-breaking en primeur prices for First Growth labels like Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Margaux.
Few thought this spectacular vintage could be bettered, but the 2010 came pretty close - some even suggested they preferred the more powerful tannins found in the later wines - and again en primeur prices reached record highs.
So a great deal was expected of the 2011 harvest, but it has failed to deliver after a difficult growing season that veered from heat waves to hail and back again.
Yet many Bordeaux producers are openly relieved this has not been another stellar vintage, as they feel the market needs to recover with a more modest offering from the region.
The difficult growing season has also given winemakers the chance to put some new technology to the test - optical grape sorters.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), grape selection in Bordeaux is no longer just about removing stems and leaves and throwing away the odd rotten cluster, as knowledge about how grapes skins, pips and juices affect the finished wine has developed.
Fabien Teitgen, technical director at Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte, told the news agency that when it comes to sifting through the grapes produced during a difficult harvest such as the one experienced this year, use of a sorting machine is "imperative".
"At the end of June, we had two days at over 40 degrees Celsius that led to burns on the clusters," he said.
"We were finding pink or green grapes that absolutely needed weeding out, or they would have caused bitterness and green, dry tannins."
Smith Haut-Lafitte began testing a prototype optical sorter similar to the ones used in the frozen vegetable and coffee bean industries back in 2008.
"It's an undeniable contribution to the regularity and quality of the sorting," Mr Teitgen told AFP.
The grapes have their stems and leaves removed and are then placed on a conveyor belt that uses parallel cords to line up the berries.
Each grape is then photographed by the sorter and any that do not match the colour set by the vineyard's winegrowers are immediately ejected by a powerful jet system.
After testing the prototype, Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte bought the first commercial model, and the initial results have prompted many Bordeaux chateaux to follow suit.
Mr Tiegen explains that by using the optical sorter, not only is the quality of the final wine much improved, costs are kept much lower as the process is quicker and fewer staff are needed.
"We went from 24 to four people at the sorting table, plus it goes a lot faster," he said.
"By hand we can sort one tonne per hour. The machine can do up to eight tonnes."
But while Bordeaux is embracing new technology in a bid to improve the quality of its produce, Burgundy is taking a step back by enforcing more traditional methods.
A group of leading producers in the region recently joined forces to persuade the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine to ban the use of machine harvesters for Grand Cru estates.
Louis Michel Liger-Belair of Domaine Comte Liger-Belair, the president of the Union of Burgundy Grands Crus, said that it is important to prohibit the use of harvesting machines as the few that do use them are creating a "bad image" for the region.