That's the message from Alain Raynaud, president of the Grand Cercle des Vins de Bordeaux, who is also predicting that first growths could drop prices to lows not seen since the release of the 2007 vintage.

After a cold spring and summer hailstorms the 2013 vintage has been the subject of relentless bad press both from outside and within Bordeaux.

It will soon be time to assess the results -the en primeur tastings are less than a fortnight away. This week, however, the Grand Cercle grouping of 191 chateaux, from both the Right and Left Banks, held its annual tasting in London and producers made no secret of the difficulties of the growing season, but insisted that they had made a far better wine than they expected under the circumstances.

Raynaud told Wine-Searcher that the 2013 is a "medium vintage, but it's not a missed vintage." With the technology and the knowledge available, he said, it was far better than it would have been under the same weather conditions in the 1970s.

But prices must drop, he conceded. "In terms of quality and pricing the conditions are similar to 2007. Prices must drop by at least 30 percent if we want to sell the wines."

He said the first growths may well come down to 2007 prices -around €100 ($137) per bottle on first release -but warned that such discounts would be impossible for the smaller chateaux. "My own property [St.-Emilion's Chateau du Parc] is €8 ($11) a bottle. How can I come down in price?"

Indeed, it will be hard to lower prices, particularly with little wine to sell. The region's wine trade body, the Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, has reported that the 2013 harvest was the smallest since 1991.

Thomas Herve of Chateau Moulin Haut-Laroque in Fronsac, said: "The weather was the worst we have ever known. We picked only the best of the grapes. We're losing money."

The properties that could afford to do extensive green harvests and rigorous sorting both in the vineyard and the winery were able to make decent wine. Coralie de Bouard of La Fleur de Bouard, which is owned by Hubert de Bouard of Chateau Angelus, said, "it was a good year for us," but conceded it was a vintage that required careful handling, explaining that the small, thick-skinned grapes needed very gentle extraction.

The two Sauternes producers at the tasting, Chateau Raymond-Lafon and Chateau Haut-Bergeron, said they were blessed by "ideal" botrytis in October.

At this very early stage, critics seemed pleasantly surprised.

"There are two or three wines I would gladly take home with me tonight," Hugh Johnson said.

"I found the Graves wines appetizing, with a bit of grassiness and freshness."