The year 2009 is soothing the brows of a wine trade stressed out by duty rises and exchange rate vagaries. I don’t just mean the financial benefits that will come from a frenzied Bordeaux en-primeur campaign (though more on that later) since these are largely irrelevant for sommeliers, who won’t be buying them at this stage.

No, the 2009s that are putting smiles on people’s faces are not particularly age-worthy or even especially prestigious; I’m talking about what looks to be a great vintage across Europe.

Often of humble origins, these bottles fit our current mood which, with the arrival of spring and a gradual clawing out of recession, is gently optimistic. Europe’s 2009s are universally delicious and, in many cases, even profound. After two years of redundancies, failing businesses and steeply rising cost, these wines give us all a chance to refocus on why we do what we do.

I have just shipped the most delicious 2009 Loire Sauvignon, from the small region of Quincy. At not much over £6 a bottle it is stunning value – I am dreaming of getting the first asparagus on the menu to eat with it.

Nick Brookes of the perennial sommelier favourite Vine Trail told me recently of his trip to Beaujolais where his producers announced ’09 to be the best vintage they had ever seen. I tend to take more notice of these pronouncements from the ‘lesser’ regions; they are less prone to hyperbole.

While I freely admit bias, as I think good Beaujolais to be one of the world’s great underrated wines, a line up of 10-plus 2009s at another supplier’s spring tasting confirmed these are thrilling wines. The easy-drinking styles are saturated with fruit while still retaining freshness, and the serious cru village wines will age and undoubtedly be finding a way into my cellar.

The list goes on. I made the blend of our house white (Rueda) from the best raw materials of all of the eight vintages I have bought from this region, while the few ’09 northern Italian whites I have tried are equally promising.

I can’t, though, finish any talk about last year’s vintage without briefly discussing the big boys. I spent a week in Burgundy at the Les Grand Jours tastings. This bi-annual jamboree highlights the current vintages, in this case mostly ’08. The growers were a frustrated bunch. They were proud of their 2008s, but realise market conditions in the UK make them hard to sell – too much stock, often at a lower price, kicking around from previous vintages.

Perhaps most galling of all is they feel 2008 is a cracking vintage (indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be better than 2009) but has been ignored by the press (and thus the consumer) in favour of the ’09s. Intense interest is sure to fall on the region again when these wines are released to the trade in early 2011, and it will certainly pull in the casual Burgundy consumer.

As one grower dismissively said of 2009, ‘It will be a vintage for the Bordeaux drinker, all about power rather than finesse.’ Allocations will be fought over and prices on the secondary market will be positively stratospheric.

All of which brings us neatly onto Bordeaux which is generating more column inches, blogs, tweets and general media outpouring than any previous year. Prices are bound to be high, and in some cases record breaking, as the booming Far East market takes up the slack left by the fragile US and UK economies.

I have not tasted any as yet, but reports suggest a unique and sometimes controversial collection of wines – with a number of the big-name Right Bank estates topping 15% alcohol. Yes there will be the usual rumblings about the ‘ordinary’ drinker being priced out of the market and the stylistic arguments, modern versus traditional, but doesn’t it feel good to be talking about, tasting and drinking wine again?

Hamish Anderson