It was my birthday a few weeks ago and I got to spend it in Burgundy. Not a bad way to see in 39. It was great to return to Beaune, and do the rounds on our Burgundy En Primeur tour, after a long 3-year absence. In 2021, there just sadly wasn’t enough wine for me to warrant going out, and happily, when the 2022 tastings came around, son no. 2 was born, leaving me grounded, so as you can imagine, I was hugely enthusiastic to get back to this remarkable place and taste the 2023s. 
October is a very good time to visit Burgundy. The region is swathed in a sea of autumnal hues; oranges, yellows, reds. It really is a beautiful sight. It’s also a time of relative calm. Harvest is over. The wines are fermenting, resting in tank and/or barrel starting their journeys of elevage. I’ll be brief regarding my initial musings on the 2023s, as we will be putting together a more thorough ‘first impressions’ piece that will be published in due course, the wines are excellent and, in my opinion, are very close stylistically and qualitatively to the outstanding 2022s. 
My notebook is full of scribblings (over 200 wines tasted) and peppered with words like ‘energy’, ‘verticality’, ‘power’, ‘finesse’, ‘balance’ and ‘elegance’. Much like in Bordeaux, they have somehow managed, in 2023, to marry a wonderful drinkability with good structure. We are also fortunate that there is at last some volume, especially in the face of 2024, which by all reports will be one of the smallest harvests to date. A few standout producers for me were Rémi Jobard, Fernand & Laurent Pillot, Comte Armand and a special mention for Thierry Mortet whose wines I’ve always enjoyed but often slip under the radar. Vincent Dureuil-Janthial’s 2023s also deserve a mention as they were superb but we won’t see those released until 2025 (they are always a year later). 
These trips (whether it be Burgundy or elsewhere) also provide us with an opportunity to taste older vintages with (or without) producers, either at the Domaine or whilst breaking bread at dinner. We tasted a 2003 village Chablis from Laurent Tribut, offered to us blind by Solange Tribut (we guessed 2009/2010). It, of course, was developed but it still had a lovely vein of acidity running through it. Quite remarkable for such a hot vintage. We also tasted a bottle of 2003 Chablis Les Clos from Vincent Dauvissat. Again, served to us blind. We guessed even younger. Stunning wine! There was a 2011 and then a 2017 Saint Aubin from Hubert Lamy. Both were excellent and still going strong. The latter is clearly a vintage that the Burgundians feel is in a good spot right now. Take that as you will, but those that we tasted were excellent so if you have some 2017s in the cellar, it might be worth pulling them out and having a taste (village & 1er Crus).
I’ll finish with an ode to Beaune. It’s a magical place for wine enthusiasts. The restaurants, the wine lists (we tasted some excellent back vintages of non-L&S producers too), the vibes, the producers united in their hard graft in the vineyards at every corner. It’s a town I could definitely see myself living in. When I open a bottle now I am instantly transported back to Beaune, to those autumnal vineyards and the hustle and bustle of small restaurants full of likeminded individuals (aka wine nerds).