A very good vintage for Bordeaux wines. The weather was dreadful until the beginning of August, but the grapes that held on were saved by a magnificent late season. The harvest was late (shortly before October 10th), yielding very fruity, deeply colored and moderately tannic wines. Notable successes in the Graves, as well as in the majority of the Médoc Grands Crus Classés (Margaux Grands Crus Classés, Pauillac Grands Crus Classés and Saint Julien Grands Crus Classés). In Barsac and Sauternes (which represent the vast majority of Bordeaux white wines), the warm and dry autumn did not favor the development of noble rot, and the wines lack a little complexity and definition. In Burgundy, the summer of 1978 begins after mid-August, but lingers, allowing the harvest to begin after October 10th. The wines are superb when young and age gracefully, yielding delicate aromas of blackcurrant and truffle in the red Burgundies, and honey and mousseron mushroom in the white Burgundies. The best vintage of the decade in the Rhône Valley, driven by its tannins and acidity, the Côte Rôtie and Châteauneuf du Pape 1978 are immense. Good Loire reds and low quantity and quality in Champagne.