Having returned last week, after tasting 200+ wines, I have been both trying to catch up on emails and find time to pen my thoughts on a vintage about which we were all… holding our breath.
From what we saw in the cellars whilst tasting the 2022s, and discussions we had with producers, 2023 was big. Indeed it was the first vintage since 2018 that could actually be called large (2022 was just ‘a bit above normal’, but following three short vintages) – fuelled by a very peculiar set of weather conditions.
In many ways, 2023 was a very easy year for Burgundy vignerons.
Vines were incredibly productive and, although there was some mildew pressure, it wasn’t dangerous or especially extreme. In fact, for almost the entire growing season ‘not extreme’ was quite a good descriptor; it was a vintage where it rarely got that hot and direct sunshine was at a premium – if you can remember the peculiarly large amount of cloud-cover we had here, it translated to the Côte d’Or.
The weather being consistently warm and the rainfall enough to fuel these large yields, meant that there was some danger of under-ripeness. This inverted, slightly dangerously, towards the end of August and into early September, where the region was hit by a big heatwave. In some instances, this was positive and helped complete ripeness, in others, it necessitated a real rush to pick, lest acidity levels drop and alcohol degrees shoot up.
So this was the weather – but what did we actually taste? With a vintage like this, we were holding our breath for a number of reasons:
- Dilution. When yields are this high, you can end up with insipid juice, with a total lack of concentration.
- Under ripeness. Had the season given enough to produce good phenolic ripeness, or would we be faced with very simple, one dimensional wines?
- Acidity degradation. Often when you get high temperatures at the end of a season, they knock the acidity for six, so you end up with flabby, short wine.
- Alcohol rising. Again, a lot of late sun and alcohol degrees can shoot up in a number of days.
What we found dispelled every worry we had fostered on the journey over.
This curious combination of yield and weather has created a vintage which, whilst it may not possess the enormous concentration of 2022, is cantering down the same track when it comes to purity and balance.
I think with the 2022s I have used to the phrase ‘turned up to 11’, well 2023 is the same thing, but at your usual volume. Generous, voluminous fruit which gives lots of pleasure, but (almost) never strays into over ripeness. A good amount of stuffing and mid-palate to carry the wine through. Lots of pep and acidity to finish things off. These are wonderfully complete wines, and represent a change in the timeline of how long you might need to age your Primeurs purchases. Whilst your 2020 or 2022s will likely be 10 years and 20 years in the cellar for your Premier and Grand Cru respectively, these will be peaking with half that time.
Whilst every vintage has its nuances, and I would encourage looking at things producer to producer and wine to wine, generally speaking 2023 produced wines of great typicity.
By this I mean that the Chambolle-Musigny was distinctly Chambolle-Musigny. The Meursault was very Meursault. You could spot a Gevrey-Chambertin from 10 paces.
2023 is a blind taster’s dream.
I asked a number of producers which vintage they would compare this to.
This is a question that every vigneron dislikes, as there is never a true answer. We were variously told 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2010 and 2009 – I hope this gives you an idea of how tricky it is.
If you were to back me into a corner, I would tell you 2019 for reds. They are harmonious, fully of joyful fruit, will drink well from a young age, but also have the life to keep going for a good amount of time if you let them. For whites, probably 2018 – a hotter, fuller vintage on the face of things, but saved by high yields, which Chardonnay can generally cope with very well. You will find some tropical notes, but my word are they fun, and always tempered by more than enough acidity to keep the wine balanced.
What about pricing? Quantities?
Whilst the 2023 vintage was glorious and the yields have left a smile on producers’ faces, 2024, especially in Chablis (entire vineyards were wiped out, and there will be next to no wine) and the Côte de Nuits (a lot of producers are down 80-90% and we were told, by a gentleman in his 80s, that it was the worst harvest he had ever seen) was devastating.
The further south you got, the more optimistic the outlook, but it was still a case of moving from ‘lowest in history’ to ‘quite low’.
This means that we are unlikely to (and in fact, we know for sure across four producers as they have given us our allocations already) have many price drops this year, although we will do our very best to make things as appealing as possible.
I will just refrain from promising that there will be ‘price drops for all working people…’.
In terms of quantities, it will be very much wine by wine – we are really hoping to have more to go around, but broadly speaking the vintage was 10% bigger than 2022. As with everything in Burgundy, it’s never a straight line – some vineyards will have given forth more than others this year, and we might be more successful as persuading some producers to furnish us with extras than others. We will just have to wait and see.
I can, however, say for certain that this is the most fun vintage I have ever tasted at this early stage.
Across the board they are wines you (and I!) will want to own for their sheer joy and transparency.
We will begin offering allocations to previous buyers towards the end of this week, but please do fill out the form below to express interest in particular villages or producers, as it is where we will turn should anything be in abundance.
