Latest from Decanter (Vanilla) in Burgundy-en-primeur

Burgundy 2024: Five producers that stood out in a fickle vintage

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000

The five producers below crafted compelling wines from a year beset with problems, and show great promise for the future of Burgundy.

Domaine Marcel Couturier, Mâcon

I tasted the exciting wines of Domaine Marcel Couturier at the winery for the first time in autumn 2025. The domaine has been around for some time, but Marcel is now transitioning the bulk of the winemaking to his son, Auxence.

They work 14ha, which are certified organic and biodynamic. Many of the vineyards are in Pouilly-Loché, which recently received its first premiers crus. Others are in Pouilly-Fuissé, St-Véran, and various Mâcon appellations.

At present, the wines are matured for 18 months, but they are moving towards a full 24 months maturation (12 in barrel, 12 in tank). The wines are silky, with abundant fresh acidity in 2024, making this an exciting domaine to watch.

Domaine Henri & Gilles Buisson, St-Romain

Domaine Henri & Gilles Buisson is now run by Henri’s grandsons Franck and Frédérick. The domaine is based in St-Romain and covers almost 20ha. The farming is certified organic, and the wines are made with great care.

The St-Romain wines are compelling, including whites and reds from a series of named vineyards in the village. They also produce cuvées from Pommard, Volnay and Auxey-Duresses, and some spectacularly good Corton and Corton-Charlemagne.

The brothers are also restless innovators – they have experimented with wines made without sulphur as well as orange wines, making interesting wines at the top of their game.

Domaine Georges Chicotot, Nuits-St-Georges

Domaine Georges Chicotot is another domaine being steered by the new generation, in particular Clément Chicotot. He’s a passionate advocate of organic viticulture and gentle extraction in the winery, and has a deep knowledge of the terroirs in Nuits-St-Georges.

In the vineyards, he is moving the canopy higher and gradually converting to weaving the vine tips (tressage). He sorts rigorously before fermenting, usually as 100% whole bunch, and extracts very gently.

There is a range of five village-level wines from Nuits and five premiers crus from the same village, in addition to other wines, all worth exploring. The wines are structured but balanced, with good purity of fruit.

Domaine Alvina Pernot, Puligny-Montrachet

Alvina Pernot is the granddaughter of Puligny icon Paul Pernot. She founded her eponymous winery with her husband, Philippe Abadie, in 2018 and is making absolutely brilliant wines.

They started with a tiny production of domaine-owned Puligny-Montrachet Rue aux Vaches, Puligny-Montrachet Noyers Bret and Bourgogne Rue de Bois, supplemented with grapes purchased from Alvina’s family and exchanges with other young vignerons.

As of 2025, they have taken over more of the Pernot family vines, and (hopefully) production will continue to expand. The style is fresh, crisp and slightly reductive. There is enough substance to reward extended ageing, but the wines are delicious and it is a challenge not to drink them.

Domaine de la Commaraine, Pommard

Although I have been following the wines for several years, I tasted for the first time at the Château de la Commaraine with technical director Paul Krug at the estate itself in autumn 2025.

The wine estate dates to the 12th century, and is owned today by Denise Dupré and Mark Nunelly. They are developing the château as a luxury hotel, but the vineyard is serious work as well. The opening consultant was Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, who hired Paul Krug (yes, of that Krug family) to be estate manager.

Krug formerly worked with vineyard whiz Pedro Para, who analysed soils in order to fine-tune vineyard work. The owners have been expanding the property slowly, and have acquired interesting parcels in St-Aubin, Monthélie and elsewhere.

Top picks from five stars of Burgundy 2024:

Best value Burgundy 2024 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 08:00:37 +0000

Finding value in Burgundy’s 2024 vintage will demand a certain perspicacity on the part of wine lovers.

The vintage is notable for its small size, and low prices seldom coincide with limited availability. However, there are several approaches to finding delightful wines that will not break the bank.

Scroll down for great value picks from Burgundy 2024

Ideas for finding value in Burgundy 2024

The logical place to begin would be with regional appellations, although many of these wines come from vineyards with heavy, deep soils in the plain, where often mildew was at its worst.

Having blind tasted several hundred wines from regional appellations, I found that those from the Hautes-Côtes (Nuits and Beaune) often came out on top.

The top performers were the Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguette from Domaine Guy & Yvan Dufouleur, and the Bourgogne Haute- Côtes de Beaune blanc from Domaine Jean Guiton, both interesting possibilities.

It will also be rewarding to search in the southern reaches of Burgundy. As I tasted, the further south I travelled, the better the wines became.

The Côte Chalonnaise is a collection of five villages to the south of the Côte d’Or: Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny. Each of them produced some interesting wines this year.

Top names include Maison Chanzy in Bouzeron, Domaine Belleville in Rully, Château de Chamirey in Mercurey, Domaine du Cellier aux Moines in Givry, and Domaine Stéphane Aladame in Montagny (along with the Montagny wines also made by Domaine du Cellier aux Moines.

Another key tip is to search the diverse range of Chardonnay produced in the Mâconnais. The best of this sector is superb in 2024, with racy acidity, fresh fruit and plenty of structure.

Pouilly-Fuissé had a banner year, but top wines were produced throughout the area.

Domaines with value picks:

Brett Brothers (and the Domaine de la Soufrandière wines that they also make)
Domaine Deux Roches
Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau
Domaine Jacques Saumaize
Domaine Merlin
Domaine Rijckaert (known as Domaine Florent Rouve in the UK)
Domaine Roc de Boutires
Domaine Saumaize-Michelin
Maison Verget (and the Domaine Guffens-Heynen wines made at the same address)

Top value picks from the 2024 vintage:

Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet 2024: The ‘irresistible’ wines to have in your cellar

Charles Curtis MW — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 08:00:22 +0000

Growers in Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet benefited from the slightly drier conditions and better flowering in the Côte de Beaune in 2024.

The result is an exceptional balance of finesse, structure and fruit that makes the wines irresistible.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet 2024 wines

‘The wines in 2024 are more electric than the 2023s,’ says Pierre-Yves Colin, of his eponymous domaine, ‘they are clear and precise and remind me of 2017 and 2014. The great 2024s will age very well.’

‘The wine feels more confident before bottling, and we need much less sulphur than we did before,’ he says.

At Domaine Michel Niellon, winemaker Lucie Coutoux says: ‘The wines have finesse and freshness; they are subtle, discreet and harmonious. They averaged 11%-11.5% potential alcohol at harvest and chaptalised up to 12%-12.45% with a classic pH of 3.1-3.2; but the two grands crus both ripened to more than 12%’.

In Puligny, conditions were similar. At Domaine Jean Chartron, although they lost 15%-20% of their crop, they felt lucky because they caught the mildew problem early and treated it as the second leaf emerged on the new shoots.

Alvina Pernot, of her eponymous domaine, was very pleased with the outcome: ‘This vintage suits our style perfectly. People can go anywhere in the world for Chardonnay at 14%-14.5%, but they come to Burgundy because of this balance.’

Discerning enthusiasts can happily buy many high-scoring wines from these villages in 2024, defined by remarkable balance and fine structures.

(Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

Top picks from Chassagne & Puligny:

Meursault 2024: Top picks from a host of ageworthy wines

Charles Curtis MW — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 08:00:39 +0000

Meursault (along with Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet) had, in many respects, less difficulty with the weather in 2024 than many of its neighbours.

The success is due to the dominance of Chardonnay, which had a more successful flowering and was less affected by mildew than the Pinot Noir.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Meursault 2024 wines

The vintage still required ceaseless work in the vineyard, but the wines from top producers have a combination of seductive fruit aromas on the nose and the structure to age.

Pierre Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon says: ‘2024 was really hard in the vineyard but really easy in the cellar’.

‘For white wines, we “only” lost 25% of the crop and managed to make all of the cuvées,’ he says.

Brian Sieve, winemaker at Domaine de Montille, says that much of the vineyard work was done earlier to preserve freshness in the wine and combat the effects of global warming. ‘The whole cycle is earlier – we plough earlier to open up soils, we pick earlier than we used to, but we still prune late,’ he says.

Benjamin Leroux is a negociant with growing holdings in Meursault, which expanded this year. He had enough grapes in 2024 to produce seven different bottlings of Meursault.

This includes: a blended Meursault village; village-level single-vineyard wines from Vireuils and Narvaux; and premiers crus from Genevrières and Charmes. There are also two separate cuvées of the Meursault Blagny premier cru La Pièce Sous le Bois, separating the old vine fruit for individual bottling in magnum.

Wines from these producers and others tasted blind indicate that 2024 will be a delicious year for Meursault and that the best wines will warrant laying down for a decade or more.

Top picks from Meursault in 2024:

Pommard & Volnay 2024: Pick of the bunch from an early-drinking set of wines

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 08:00:06 +0000

Although the 2024 vintage posed challenges for producers of Pinot Noir everywhere, vines were less affected by rain and mildew in the Côte de Beaune and the results were better here than in the Côte de Nuits.

The best reds from the northern Côte de Beaune have much of the hallmarks of lush, supple fruit for which good Burgundian Pinot is so renowned.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Pommard & Volnay 2024 wines

Wines from Pommard range from tannic and firm to more supple and approachable, while in Volnay the best producers have given us silky, expressive wines.

Paul Zinetti, winemaker at Domaine du Comte Armand, notes that the yields of this famous Pommard producer were the lowest ever, at 15hl/ha. ‘Although there was more rain in 2013, the yields were higher than in 2024,’ he says.

Paul Négrerie, cellarmaster at the nearby Château de Pommard, had a similar experience in 2024: ‘Yields overall were 14hl/ha. Normally we make 200 barrels, this year there were just 80. We didn’t have rot in September but there were dry berries from the mildew. It was important to extract carefully, since you want to extract as much as possible without too much bitterness or green tannin. Compared to other years, there is less ripeness and more elegance.’

According to Frédéric Lafarge in Volnay: ‘This is a vintage of purity, where you can see the differences between all of the terroirs.’ He says that the cold weather in April made the vines fragile, and when the flowering came there were no grapes, just empty tendrils.

Lafarge says that 2024 and 2021 are similar vintages in the glass, but their evolution was very different: 2024 showed more finesse and complexity due to the longer vegetative cycle, while the sudden frost of 2021 was more brutal. He feels that, given vintage conditions, the wines will need a bit longer in barrel (16 months instead of 14).

In general, 2024 is a lighter vintage suited to earlier drinking, but top producers have been able to deliver wines that will be a pleasure to drink when young and suited to at least mid-term ageing of five to 10 years.

Paul Négrerie, winmaker at Château de Pommard. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

Top Pommard & Volnay picks:

Chambolle-Musigny 2024: Our expert’s picks from a tiny offering

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 08:01:37 +0000

Chambolle-Musigny was a village on the cusp of disaster in 2024.

The southern portion, in Musigny, was particularly hard hit, while the northern part of the village, nearer to Morey-St-Denis, had less trouble.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2024 wines

The quality and style of the wines is variable, and producers with vines at the southern end of the village often despaired of the conditions of the grapes they harvested

Jean Lupatelli, director of Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, describes the variations within the same village: ‘We did one third of a normal crop after sorting. We didn’t do much whole bunch, except for a bit in Bonnes-Mares. Our yields were 7-8hl/ha in Musigny and 12-13hl/ha in Bonnes-Mares.

‘The “eye of the storm” was in Flagey-Echézeaux, just north of Vosne, where we had two storms with 50mm of rain each time, while in Bonnes-Mares we only had 2mm. The upper portion of Clos Vougeot was terrible, and the southern part of Musigny was hit very hard.’

At Domaine Georges Roumier, I tasted with Alexis Aubin, Christophe Roumier’s nephew, who agrees about the difficulties in Musigny – in fact, the domaine didn’t produce any at all this year.

‘We made 100 barrels in 2024,’ says Aubin, ‘In 2022, it was a “normal” year and we made 200; in 2023 we made 250.’

He says they used a bit more whole bunch than usual for logistical reasons, since they need a certain volume to fill the tank.

A tale of two halves

Charles tasting with Jean Lupatelli, director of Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

Wines from this part of the village can be light, astringent and lacking in fruit expression, although some producers, such as Domaine de Comte Georges de Vogüé, overcame innumerable obstacles to produce delightful wines.

Wines from the opposite end of the village in and around Bonnes-Mares were often more robust, with deeper colour, more substance and the expressive floral-scented fruit characteristic of the best of Chambolle.

Antoine Amiot-Servelle of Domaine Amiot-Servelle says: ‘2024 is not the easiest vintage, but I am an old-time optimist. What I will remember is that we stayed organic up until the end.’

‘We are lucky to be in Chambolle and to have [organic producers] all around us. The biggest problem was [to be compelled to do] so much work for so little yield.’

Top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2024 wines:

Gevrey-Chambertin 2024: The best of the year’s ‘crisp and fresh’ wines

Charles Curtis MW — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:00:06 +0000

As with several other villages, there was marked variation in the wines from Gevrey-Chambertin.

The best wines have a pure, perfumed expression of high-toned red fruit character underlined by firm tannins and a bright mineral edge on the palate.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2024 wines

The most heart-wrenching summary of the vintage in Gevrey came from Cyrielle Rousseau of Domaine Armand Rousseau. ‘When I saw what was going on in the vineyards, I felt sick to my stomach,’ she says, ‘we produced half of what we did in 2021, and the total amount was less than 10hl/ha.’

In the end, the yield was so low that the domaine had to blend together its premiers crus Lavaux St-Jacques and Cazetiers to make a Gevrey premier cru.

For the same reason, it will blend together the Mazis-Chambertin and Ruchottes-Chambertin grands crus, which will have to be declassified to premier cru since it blends two different appellations. The domaine will also blend its grapes from the grands crus of Chambertin and Clos de Bèze, which may be sold simply as Chambertin.

At Domaine Fourrier, cellar master François Orisé says that the domaine lost 70% of its crop to mildew. In order to control the effects, it resorted to using an optical sorter, which Orisé says gives an effect more of concentration than one of dilution.

Take your medicine

Our expert gives his verdict and picks his top recommendations for wines to buy this vintage. Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

The variable quality across the village was also confirmed by winemaker Pierre Duroché of Domaine Duroché: ‘In the northern section above the Combe de Lavaux [known as the Côte St-Jacques], we required 14 treatments since the site is very windy and the mildew was not as bad, but our vineyards at the base of the slope required 21 treatments to keep them healthy.’

In the end, the yield was so low that he also had to blend premier cru (Cazetiers and Estournelles) and village appellations (Aux Etelois and Jeunes Rois), which he will call Cuvée 26, after the number of the tank where it was blended.

Although the wines from Gevrey this year are generally fresh, crisp and light- to medium-bodied, the vintage offers ‘classic’ Gevrey quality and style.

Too often this adjective is a euphemism for ‘light, tart and astringent,’ but that is far from universally true, and wine lovers will still find charming wines to drink now and for mid-term ageing.

Top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2024 wines

Burgundy 2024 en primeur: White wines shine amid a small and challenging harvest

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 08:00:17 +0000

Following a growing season rife with challenges, 2024 is a catastrophically small vintage, yet there are bright spots that shine through, particularly among the white wines.

Despite concerns raised in some quarters over quality in general as a result of the year’s severe weather conditions, Burgundy lovers may be surprised how many enjoyable wines they will find.

According to Frédéric Drouhin, CEO of Maison Joseph Drouhin, ‘2024 is a vintage of delicacy, sobriety and precision. It is a pleasant vintage in red, and a precise and salty vintage for the whites.’

His wife, Claude de Nicolay, directs her own domaine, Chandon de Briailles, with her brother François. Her view was slightly different: ‘2024 will be a “virtual” vintage – you will almost not see it at all.

‘We lost 90% of the crop and had an average yield of 8hl/ha. There was nothing at all to pick at the base of the slope. But in the end, it is a classic vintage “à l’ancienne”, a character not extinguished by the excesses of the weather.’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s Burgundy 2024 selection

Burgundy 2024 vintage rating and overview:

Whites: 4/5

2024 is a good to very good vintage that has produced whites of elegance and finesse with the structure and the substance for mid- to long-term ageing, comparable to the 2014 vintage.

Reds: 3/5

2024 is a challenging vintage for red wine. The best examples will be found in the Côte de Beaune, although outstanding producers further north have exceeded expectations.

Claude de Nicolay of Chandon de Briailles and Charles Curtis MW, during his en primeur tastings. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

First impressions

After tasting more than 1,400 wines from this vintage, I can say that it is a good vintage for white wines, which have firm acidity, wonderful balance and moderate alcohol.

It was generally a modest vintage for red wine, which could be light, thin and lacking concentration and fruit.

It is above all a highly variable vintage from village to village, however, and surprises abound.

Chablis was hit hardest by the climate in 2024, and the Côte de Beaune fared better than the Côte de Nuits. It seems that the further south one ventures, the better the wines become, and 2024 is a vintage where the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais really came into their own.

Drouhin describes the challenges: ‘We did not produce any wine at all in the grands crus of Clos de Vougeot, Clos de Bèze, or Les Clos in Chablis, and it was difficult for the staff since the pressure was simply too intense.’

Numerous winemakers spoke of the psychological challenge of the 2024 vintage, explaining that they felt they should have been able to do more, somehow, to counter the weather’s excesses – that they might have changed the outcome had they done so.

But on the ground at the time it was happening, that wasn’t realistic, given the very difficult conditions they faced. The best, however, did what they could to deliver delicious wines.

According to the BIVB, total volume produced in 2024 was 1.21 million hectolitres, just over 161 million bottles. This figure was a drop of more than a third from the generous 2023 harvest, although it was more than 20% above 2021, which was decimated by frost.

Read the full report on the Chablis 2024 vintage

Weather Conditions

2024 began with mild temperatures and notably some of the warmest February temperatures ever recorded. March was also warmer than usual, setting the vines ahead of schedule. April, however, saw temperatures plummet, with two episodes of frost at the end of the month damaging some vineyards.

The real challenge began in May, however, as temperatures remained low and rain fell incessantly across the region. Jérôme Flous is the technical director of Domaine Faiveley.

He explains the difficulties: ‘I started at Faiveley in 2007, and 2024 was my most challenging vintage – there were 38 days of rain in May and June. The problem was the flowering; in a rainy year, it is disrupted, the stem is in contact with the air, and mildew can easily destroy the bunch.’

The rain lessened somewhat in July and August, but there were occasional storms, including hailstorms, throughout this period. Another difficulty was the lack of sun: 2024 saw the fewest hours of sunshine since the beginning of the century.

Grapes ripened with difficulty, and most growers used a relatively dry period from 13-22 September to harvest their tiny crop.

Charles’ wines of the vintage:

White: Domaine Jean Chartron, Clos des Chevaliers, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru – 98 points

Red: Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, Vieilles Vignes, Musigny Grand Cru – 97 points

Previous vintage ratings:

2023: Whites 4/5 Reds 4.5/5

2022: Whites 4/5 Reds 4.5/5

2021: Whites 4/5 Reds 3.5/5

2020: Whites 4.5/5 Reds 4/5

2019: Whites 4/5 Reds 5/5

Around the appellations

Côte de Nuits

Charles tasting with Antoine Amiot-Servelle, Chambolle-Musigny. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

In a reversal of recent trends, conditions in the Côte de Nuits were more difficult than those in the Côte de Beaune. This reversal is mainly due to localised differences in rainfall, which was much higher there, and to the dominance of Pinot Noir, which was more affected by poor flowering and mildew.

Even within the Côte de Nuits, conditions varied, and the southern portion, from the Clos de Vougeot to Nuits-St-Georges, suffered more than the section from Morey to Marsannay.

Top Côte de Nuits producers in 2024:

Domaine Armand Rousseau
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Domaine des Lambrays
Domaine Dugat-Py
Domaine Dujac
Domaine Duroché
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Domaine Georges Roumier
Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier

Côte de Beaune

Vineyards of Savigny-les-Beaune in the Côte de Beaune, autumn 2025. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

Conditions in the Côte de Beaune were generally better than in the Côte de Nuits, though there was variation here as well. The hill of Corton to the north was extremely hard hit by the weather.

To the south of Beaune, however, conditions improved. The ‘golden triangle’ of Meursault, Puligny and Chassagne had quality and yields much closer to the norm, mainly because Chardonnay (on which these appellations are focused) had a more successful flowering and was less affected by mildew than Pinot Noir.

In the south, Santenay and Maranges produced some lovely wines.

Top Côte de Beaune producers in 2024:

Domaine de Montille
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Domaine des Croix
Domaine Henri et Gilles Buisson
Domaine Jean Chartron
Domaine Michel Lafarge
Domaine Michel Niellon
Domaine Pierre Vincent
Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey
Domaine Rapet

Côte Chalonnaise

(Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

Further south, in the Côte Chalonnaise, conditions continued to improve. There were marvellous examples of Chardonnay from Montagny, Mercurey and Rully, as well as some particularly good Aligoté.

Although conditions limited yields for Pinot Noir, conscientious growers were able to produce lovely wines here that should provide solid value and current drinking pleasure, and some that have the substance for ageing.

Top Côte Chalonnaise producers in 2024:

Château de Chamirey
Domaine Baron Thénard
Domaine Belleville
Domaine Chanzy
Domaine du Cellier aux Moines

Mâconnais

Charles tastes with Maison Louis Latour winemaker Jean-Charles Thomas. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

The Mâconnais is among the brightest spots in Burgundy for the 2024 vintage. Conditions produced some superb examples of Pouilly-Fuissé (particularly among the new-ish premiers crus).

Throughout the Mâconnais, the top growers produced white Burgundy that wine lovers should not miss in this vintage.

Top Mâconnais producers in 2024:

Bret Brothers & Domaine de la Soufrandière
Domaine Merlin
Domaine Deux Roches
Domaine du Roc des Boutires
Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau
Domaine Jacques Saumaize
Domaine Rijckaert
Domaine Saumaize-Michelin
Maison Verget & Domaine Guffens-Heynen

Concluding thoughts

Frédéric Mugnier of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier during Charles’ en primeur tastings. (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen / Littlewine.io)

The 2024 vintage will remain a vintage apart, if only because of the exceptional climatic conditions. Judging the wines, however, is another matter. As Frédéric Mugnier of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier put it: ‘Don’t take the word of a winemaker when it comes to [assessing] a vintage, since their opinion reflects their lived experience, and there was no amusement involved in making the 2024 vintage.’

In red wine, the closest parallels would be 2001 or 2013. For whites, the nearest comparison would be 2014, suggesting that it is a vintage to buy reds for current drinking and whites to lay down.

If money is no object, invest in the Montrachet from Domaine des Comtes Lafon or the Chevalier-Montrachet from Domaine Jean Chartron or Domaine Michel Niellon. Among the reds, an obvious splurge would be the Musigny from Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé or the Bonnes Mares from Domaine Georges Roumier.

Most wine lovers would also be delighted with mid-range bottles such as the Clos du Château des Ducs from Domaine Michel Lafarge, or the Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Aux Combottes from Domaine Arlaud. Given the limited availability of top wines, it would be advisable to buy en primeur to secure an allocation.

There are also lovely wines further south that will be much less expensive. For whites, don’t miss the Mâcon-Pierreclos from Maison Verget, or the Pouilly-Fuissé Premier Cru Sur la Roche from Domaine Rijckaert.

Côte Chalonnaise reds such as the Givry Premier Cru Clos du Cellier aux Moines from Domaine du Cellier aux Moines, or the Mercurey Premier Cru Clos l’Eveque from Domaine Belleville will be perfect for current drinking.

COMING SOON

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

A taste of the top Burgundy 2024 wines

Wines were tasted non-blind. Wines are listed in order of white then red, then by scores, and then alphabetically by producer. The 2024s are bottled from January 2026, hence prices, stockists and alcohols are not yet finalised. Contact specialist merchant for allocations or to enquire about en primeur tastings. The following wines were Charles Curtis MW’s selection for particularly notable quality and value among the 650 wines he reviewed from the 2024 Burgundy vintage.

Burgundy 2024: What to expect from a topsy-turvy vintage

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 08:00:13 +0000

Despite widespread reports of its challenges, the results of the 2024 vintage hold surprises both good and less good for Burgundy lovers.

The weather during the 2024 growing season defied current global warming trends. Most of the past six years have been unrelentingly hot and dry, with only 2021 offering some respite.

The tables turned in 2024, when nature surprised us with unprecedented amounts of rain and some of the lowest levels of sunshine in recent memory.

As a consequence, the wines harken back to earlier Burgundy, with a return to its roots and an emphasis on finesse and elegance at the expense of power.

Tough conditions

Because of the heat of February and August, the average temperature for the year was not particularly cold, but during the critical months of May, June and July temperatures struggled to reach the norm.

Total rainfall was the third-highest of the century (after 2013 and 2001), and there were fewer hours of sunshine than in any other year in the 21st century.

Disruption of flowering from cold and near-constant rain favoured mildew and made ripening difficult. Warmth and sunshine in August lessened some of the damage, however, and picking began in mid-September and continued in some cases into October.

The impact of these conditions on the wines was dramatic. In general, the wines are light in body, low in alcohol, and moderate to high in acidity, with red wines that are notably light in colour, with tannins that can be astringent.

These generalities, however, mask great regional diversity.

Charles Curtis MW tasting the 2024 vintage this autumn. Picture (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen)

Chablis – hard hit

The area most gravely affected by the 2024 weather was Chablis, with three hailstorms, incessant rain, and more pressure from mildew than most growers have ever seen.

Estimates of crop losses vary from 60% to 90%, and some organic producers did not harvest any grapes at all in 2024. Those who did were required to sort very stringently.

Top growers, however, managed through Herculean effort to produce lovely wines.

Vincent Dauvissat says: ‘Except for the low degree [of potential alcohol], the balance is surprisingly similar to 2014.’

High praise indeed, since wines from 2014 are showing extremely well today.

The golden slope – one step from disaster

The Côte de Nuits was also gravely impacted by the weather. In an odd turnabout, the damage was more severe here than in the Côte de Beaune.

According to Yves Confuron, who makes wines in both regions, there was twice as much rain in the Côte de Nuits as in the Côte de Beaune. The constant rain made work in the vineyards difficult, and the mood among winemakers was morose.

But as Frédéric Mugnier notes: ‘You can never trust a winemaker, since [their comments] reflect their lived experience,’ as opposed to an objective evaluation of quality. Results here are mixed, but some have shone, particularly his.

Further south in the Côte de Beaune, results also varied. The hill of Corton suffered as much as the growers of the Côte de Nuits – organic-certified Domaine Chandon de Briailles blended all of its Corton lieux-dits into one wine, for example.

However, from Beaune south to Maranges, the outlook was more favourable. Yield was still low here, but less catastrophic than in the Côte de Nuits.

At Domaine Comte Armand in Pommard, general manager and winemaker Paul Zinetti says that yields were generally between 15-24 hl/ha, depending on the appellation.

Results were even more positive for Chardonnay producers. The vine flowers earlier and was thus less affected by poor weather at this point.

The skin of Chardonnay is also thicker, and therefore more resistant to mildew. Many growers here agree with the comparison between 2014 and 2024, which is positive news for growers.

Although yields are disappointingly low, the quality of the grapes can be superb, with a lemony fruit, impressive concentration and abundant fresh acidity.

A late autumn day in the Côte d’Or. Picture (Image credit: Christina Rasmussen)

The southern appellations – surprise results

Throughout my tastings of the 2024 vintage, the wines continued to improve the further south I ventured.

The red wines of the Côte Chalonnaise were among the most successful in the region, with marvellous examples from Givry and Mercurey.

The Côte Chalonnaise is a region known for value, and Burgundy lovers who taste these wines with an open mind are in for a delightful surprise. The best of them have abundant, ripe fruit balanced by firm tannic grip and a fresh, lively acidity, making them attractive for current drinking or mid-term cellaring.

Further delights await in the Mâconnais, almost exclusively devoted to Chardonnay. Here, the vintage must be considered very good to excellent.

There was less pressure from disease (particularly in the southern reaches around Pouilly-Fuissé), and the wines show ripe fruit but enough vibrant lemony notes to keep them lively on the palate. The best of these are wines that will age for a decade or more.

Throughout Burgundy, the quantity of wine available will be limited. To find excitement, Burgundy lovers will need to be very careful with their choices for regional appellations and entry-level wines, particularly in Chablis and the Côte de Nuits.

However, top producers will make wines worthy of interest. There will be some surprising value in the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais for those who seek them out, and the best of the whites should have a long life in the cellar.

Best value Burgundy 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 11:50:39 +0000

Charles Curtis MW’s top 10 producers that offer great value in 2023

Whites:

Domaine Alvina Pernot, Côte de Beaune
Domaine Belleville, Côte Chalonnaise
Domaine Pierre Boisson, Côte de Beaune
Domaine Saumaize-Michelin, Mâconnais
Maison Verget, Mâconnais

Reds:

Domaine Bruno Clair, Côte de Nuits
Domaine Claude Changarnier, Côte de Beaune
Domaine Jessiaume, Côte de Beaune
Domaine Meix Foulot, Côte Chalonnaise
Maison Michel Naddef, Côte de Nuits

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s top 15 value Burgundy wines in 2023

Wine lovers will hope that the high yields mean price increases will remain rare and fairly modest. The general feeling in the industry is that prices have been rising too far, too fast and most growers seem prepared to hold the line.

Moderate prices and attractive, early-drinking wines mean there will be many wines that are eminently worth buying.

These include both top-end must-haves, such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Armand Rousseau, but also the premiers crus from reliable but less exalted names such as Domaine Bruno Clair and Domaine Jean Chartron, which should be purchased en primeur to ensure availability.

Wines for everyday drinking should be in good supply.

Overall, consumers will easily buy delicious wines for short to mid-term drinking in the 2023 vintage.

Buyers looking for value from the 2023s should seek out reds from Fixin, Marsannay and Santenay, and whites from the Mâconnais, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie, as well as wines of both colours from the villages of the Côte Chalonnaise (Bouzeron, Rully, Givry, Montagny etc).

Choose value wines with care, however, as some producers working at lower price points may have harvested an over-abundance of grapes with all the pitfalls that entails.

This problem tends to be particularly acute for white wine producers when it’s exacerbated by low acidity.

See the full 2023 Burgundy en primeur report

Charles Curtis Mw’s pick of 10 up-and-coming producers in 2023

Cyprien Arlaud

Domaine Arnaud Baillot

Domaine Boigey Frères

Domaine Changarnier

Domaine du Clos Sauvage

Domaine Maxime Dubuet-Boillot

Domaine Maxime Crotet

Domaine Philippe Naddef & Maison Michel Naddef

Domaine Pierre Boisson

Domaine Pierre Vincent

Domaine Yvon Clerget

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

The 15 top value wines of Burgundy 2023:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Chablis 2023: Vintage report & best of the new wines

Collector’s Guide: White Burgundy

Top Meursault 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:23:49 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Bouchard Père & Fils
Domaine Camille & Guillaume Boillot
Domaine Michel Bouzereau
Maison Benjamin Leroux

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Meursault 2023 wines

Given this appellation’s focus on white wine, growers here generally began to pick early.

Domaine des Comtes Lafon began on 26 August; Domaine de Montille on the 28. Pierre Lafon explains: ‘Even if July and [early] August were cool, the struggle today is to maintain acidity.’

Michel Bouzereau describes a year that began ahead of schedule in May and June but fell behind with a period of cold and rain from mid-July.

He notes that the village experienced a localised hailstorm on 11 July that occurred – oddly – overnight but fortunately did little lasting damage to the vineyard.

He began picking on 3 September and ended with a moderate 12.9%-13% potential alcohol and balanced acidity.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Meursault 2023 wines:

Top Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 13:54:59 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Domaine Alvina Pernot
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Domaine Jean Chartron
Domaine Leflaive
Domaine Michel Bouzereau

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Chassagne- and Puligny-Montrachet 2023 wines

The challenges posed by 2023 were different for Chardonnay producers. Due to its thicker skin, it is less affected by higher yields than Pinot Noir. Acidity is the paramount consideration for Chardonnay, since colour and tannin are not a factor. Accordingly, the harvest date becomes even more crucial here than elsewhere.

Growers based in Puligny were generally pleased with their results; like their colleagues in Meursault, they tended to pick early.

Perhaps the earliest start to the harvest was that of Pierre Vincent Girardin, who told me that he began on 23 August, noting that Domaine Leroy and Domaine Leflaive also picked early in 2023.

Domaine des Comtes Lafon also picked fairly early, starting on 26 August. The domaine’s Pierre Lafon says: ‘The fruit didn’t look ripe, but the degree went up fast.’

Several estates, including Pierre Vincent Girardin and Alvina Pernot in Puligny, had picked all their Chardonnay in August to retain acidity and left the reds until after the heat wave.

An August harvest for Chardonnay was also the procedure at Bouchard Père et Fils, which has now halted its négociant contracts to focus on the domaine-owned wines, since it owns some of the finest Chardonnay vineyards in the Côte de Beaune.

‘We picked the Chardonnay first since there was not as much dilution and there was more potential alcohol,’ says technical director Frédéric Weber.

‘Rigorous sorting was needed, but it was also important to pick quickly. We had a team of 200, but we had to be everywhere at the same time. We had to sort some plots for rot and others for sunburn; we reduced yield by 10%-15% due to sorting.’

Great whites

Jérôme Flous from Domaine Faiveley says: ‘Overall, we feel that the whites will be more serious than the red – we think the reds are loveable, but the whites are grand.’

Frédéric Barnier at Louis Jadot was cautiously optimistic: ‘Some will say that Chardonnay ended up with too much sugar and not enough acidity, although in truth analysis show them to be fairly similar to 2022. The profile is one of opulence and richness. The level of the pH is roughly comparable to 2022, but the potential alcohol is 13.7-13.8.’

To ensure freshness, Barnier blocked the malolactic conversion on some wines. Results overall showed that despite the challenges of the year, careful winemakers were able to produce lovely wines.

Alvina Pernot and her team finished picking their domaine parcels by 1 September. Chassagne producer Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey was not far behind.

Pierre-Yves’ youngest son Clément explains that they began in the Côte de Beaune on 30 August and finished, after the rain on 12 September, with the plots in the Hautes-Côtes and the cooler locations in St-Aubin. He notes that the early-picked wines were initially thin but have put on flesh as they have aged.

Concentration was improved by the slightly troubled flowering (coulure) in the Chardonnay in the southern Côte de Beaune and losses of about 15% in the hailstorm two weeks before the harvest that reduced yields and concentrated the fruit.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Chassagne- and Puligny-Montrachet 2023 wines:

Top Pommard and Volnay 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 12:19:33 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Domaine de Courcel
Domaine de la Commaraine
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville
Domaine Michel Lafarge
Domaine Pierrick Bouley

Scroll down for Curtis’ 20 top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2023 wines

The situation in the red wine-producing regions of the Côte de Beaune was different from that of the Côte de Nuits.

In Pommard, Château de Pommard noted higher yields than the norm, averaging 49hl/ha. The year delivered large bunches and big grapes, filling the tanks and preventing the domaine from doing as much whole-cluster fermentation as they would have liked.

Guillaume d’Angerville, of Domaine Marquis d’Angerville in Volnay, notes the up-and-down nature of 2023, but he says that despite the heatwave and pH levels as high as 3.7 after malolactic conversion, one can still see the character of each climat.

The individual nature of each site is often less distinct in a hot vintage, but it was gratifying here and elsewhere to see the differences so clearly in 2023.

D’Angerville’s winemaker François Duvivier says: ‘One might think it would be an early-maturing vintage, but you never know; the wines from 2009 still appear very youthful today.’

Despite the generosity of the year, rising star Pierrick Bouley in Volnay says yields were moderate, ‘38hl/ha compared to 30hl/ha normally. Since we stopped trimming the shoots, the bunches are much smaller, 50-80 grams each, while it used to be 120-150 grams,’ he says.

He waited for the fruit to ripen and picked between 11-23 September, producing delicious results.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2023 wines:

Top Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 12:00:27 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
Domaine Méo-Camuzet
Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2023 wines

The success of the 2023 vintage in Vosne-Romanée was led by the predictable front-runners – grands crus Romanée-Conti, La Tâche and La Romanée.

Beyond the obvious, however, it seemed that growers throughout the village were successful in overcoming the challenges that Pinot Noir faced: high yields, low pH and sunburn at the end of the season.

In contrast to other recent vintages such as 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022, results were far from homogeneous. With the cool weather and rain mid-season, high crop load and drawn-out veraison, it was not an easy vintage, but in the end, it was possible to deliver lovely results.

Precision was important: at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, harvest started and ended with grand cru Grands Echezeaux. There was some sorting necessary for sunburn, shrivelled grapes and a bit of mildew.

‘In the end, 2023 reminds me of 2003 in that the vintage was initially disregarded, but now the wines are incredible,’ says Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Bertrand de Villaine.

‘What I love is the gourmand [easy-drinking/moreish] nature of the vintage,’ he says.

At Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair was forthright about the struggles, reporting picking his Clos du Château later than he might have, and having to leave 30%-40% of the grapes from his new vineyard La Croix Rameau on the sorting table because of mildew.

Trepidation and relief

Despite the challenges, he garnered top scores for wines throughout the village, from grands crus Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux to premiers crus Malconsorts and Petits-Monts.

Jean-Nicolas Méo at Méo-Camuzet had the same sense of trepidation and relief. He was afraid that his Corton Grand Cru Clos Rognet would end up ‘a bit monstrous’ because of an alcohol level above 14%. However, he sorted meticulously for sunburn and cleaned the wine up to end with a lovely, if powerful, result.

‘You never know how a vintage is going to behave [during maturation],’ says Méo, ‘there could be an increase of volatile acidity or problems with brettanomyces during maturation without having done anything wrong.

2018 was difficult with regard to both of these problems. But in 2023, everything that could turn out well did turn out well.’

In Nuits-St-Georges, as elsewhere, yields were high in 2023. Domaine Henri Gouges worked to control yield with pruning and de-budding rather than dropping fruit; consequently, their yield was between 42-44hl/ha against an objective normally of 30-35hl/ha.

Grégory Gouges observed a bit of damage from a very localised hailstorm that damaged fruit in their Fontaine Jacquinot vineyard.

They began to pick their Chênes Carteaux vineyard on 11 September because of acid rot and started on the balance of the plots from 16 September – one of the latest dates in the Côte de Nuits.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2023 wines:

Top Chambolle-Musigny 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 10:58:45 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Domaine Arlaud
Domaine Amiot-Servelle
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Domaine Robert Groffier

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny & Clos de Vougeot 2023 wines

The 2023 vintage in Chambolle-Musigny seemed consistent throughout the village, although opinions and strategies differed among quality-minded producers. There were top-scoring wines from grands crus Musigny and Bonnes-Mares (see the Morey post for the latter) and highly regarded premier cru Les Amoureuses.

Jérôme Flous at Domaine Faiveley took me through an extensive line-up of the domaine’s wines from the appellation, from grand cru Musigny to premier cru Les Amoureuses, as well as premiers crus Aux Beaux Bruns, Les Fuées and La Combe d’Orveau, each successful in its style.

The same was true at Domaine Joseph Drouhin, proprietors of fine parcels of grands crus Musigny and Bonnes-Mares, and premiers crus Les Amoureuses and Les Baudes, as well as a blended premier cru bottling that includes fruit from Les Borniques, Les Haut Doix, Les Plantes, Les Combottes, Les Sentiers and Les Groseilles.

Quantities in Chambolle were as generous as elsewhere – there was enough fruit for Nicolas Groffier of Domaine Robert Groffier to offer multiple cuvées of both grand cru Bonnes-Mares and premier cru Les Amoureuses.

Antoine Amiot-Servelle of Domaine Amiot-Servelle says that they ended up with six to eight buds per vine after debudding.

‘With this crop load, it isn′t necessary to green harvest,’ he explains.

Late picking

They started harvesting fairly late (14 September), whereas the new manager at Comte Georges de Vogüé, Jean Lupatelli, says: ‘To get the crop load right, it was necessary to drop up to half of the bunches in certain places.’

He and his team began to pick on 6 September and were among the earliest in Chambolle, although Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier was not far behind, starting on 7 September.

Frédéric Mugnier says: ‘2023 has the style of a cool year, although we know that the end of the season is what determines the quality.’

Surprisingly optimistic, he adds: ‘I believe one must be a pessimist in the short term but an optimist in the long term, ready for every irritation. 2023 resembled 2022 until July, but we know that the last weeks of the season make the harvest. In the end, we’ll make good wine.

His wines were among the most compelling of the village.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny & Clos de Vougeot 2023 wines:

The two Clos de Vougeot from Méo-Camuzet represent two separate cuvées that used to be labelled as ‘Prés du Celliers’ and ‘Grand Maupertuis’ but will be renamed from this vintage.

Top Gevrey-Chambertin 2023 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 09:40:24 +0000

Top producers in 2023:

Domaine Armand Rousseau
Domaine Dugat-Py
Domaine Duroché
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Domaine Trapet Père et Fils

Scroll down for the top-scoring 2023 wines from Gevrey-Chambertin

The 2023 harvest was generous in Gevrey-Chambertin and growers were pleased, despite the year’s challenges, and were also justifiably delighted with the quality of the wines.

The first potential pitfall was overproduction. All of the growers with top-scoring wines in our report emphasised the necessity of limiting yield in order to maintain concentration, particularly through green harvesting and sorting, since Pinot Noir is susceptible to dilution if crop levels are too high.

‘We did two green harvests, the first one everywhere, and a second pass where needed,’ says Loïc Dugat-Py of Domaine Dugat-Py.

He began picking on 30 August in Pommard and Beaune, switched to Chardonnay for three days and then picked the reds near the winery in Gevrey. His average alcohol levels were 12.6%-13.8%.

‘We removed half [of the potential crop] and in the end we didn’t pick what was shrivelled [from the heatwave], we left it on the vine,’ says Cyrielle Rousseau of Domaine Armand Rousseau. Still, it was a big harvest. An average harvest is 230 barrels across all appellations and in 2023 there were 290, she explains.

Louis Trapet at Domaine Trapet Père et Fils agrees about yield: ‘2023 is the maximum; 2024 is the minimum.’

Acid management

They started to pick on 6 September and ended on the 18 with the Côte de Beaune, harvesting the grands crus just before the rain on 12 September.

‘The colours are very nice [but] the pH is quite high, although one has a good feeling of acidity,’ says Trapet.

He works to combat falling acidity levels and rising alcohol by training the vines on stakes and not hedging the vines. He ascribes to this technique results that average 0.1 lower pH and 0.5% less alcohol.

Careful sorting was also important in 2023, particularly due to the risk of sunburn and raisined grapes from the late heatwaves.

The other products of the intense heat in September were high pH and high alcohol. The combination of low acidity levels and high alcohol posed several risks, not least an un-Burgundian flavour profile, but the best growers were able to manage crop load and picking date to deliver wines of balance and restraint.

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines above 94 points

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2023 wines:

Burgundy 2023 en primeur: Full vintage report & top-scoring wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 10:22:36 +0000

‎

Burgundy 2023 en primeur vintage rating and overview:

Whites: 4/5

Charming wines, but hot temperatures can sometimes mean low acidity and high alcohol

Reds: 4/5

Lovely fruit, rich texture, but less potential for ageing than 2022

In the opinion of Frédéric Lafarge of Domaine Michel Lafarge, ‘2022 was a great vintage to lay down; 2023 was a vintage of great charm.’

If all’s well that ends well, the 2023 vintage in Burgundy can be considered a great success. The vintage wasn’t without its challenges, however, and thus quality is more uneven than in 2022.

The biggest trap to avoid was producing too much. ‘The key was not to fall into excess,’ says négociant Benjamin Leroux. ‘It was essential to work well in the vines in order to control the yield. The quality is lovely – the whites are great if you picked in time; for the reds, it’s a question of yield and of sorting.’

He continues: ‘There is a lot of wine, even potentially more than in 2018. It was absolutely obligatory to green harvest [remove a proportion of bunches before they begin to ripen]. In certain places, we had to drop half of the crop.’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s Burgundy 2023 selection

Style and quality

Overall quality was good, even very good; on rare occasions, it was truly superb. The style of the wines generally is very ripe. They should be approachable early, but often lack the structure for long ageing. Among the reasons is that the weather wasn’t homogeneous throughout Burgundy.

‘We had almost twice as much rain in the Côte de Nuits [compared to the Côte de Beaune]: in August there was 100mm in Vosne and only 60mm in Pommard,’ says Yves Confuron, who farms his family estate Confuron-Cotetidot in Vosne-Romanée and manages Domaine de Courcel in Pommard.

Local issues also created regional differences, including isolated hailstorms in Nuits-St-Georges, Meursault, Mercurey and the Mâconnais.

There are both similarities and differences between 2023 and other recent vintages. 2023 is in the line of sunny, hot vintages such as 2022, 2020, 2019 and 2018 due to the heatwave at the end of the season. Overall, 2023 was the warmest year on record.

Paradoxically, however, in Burgundy it was less sunny than usual, and cooler than the norm during July and the first half of August. Nicolas Rossignol at Domaine Rossignol-Trapet in Gevrey says: ‘2023 was not a hot year; it was a cold year that finished hot’.

There was also more rain in 2023 than there is in a typical hot year, giving the wines a lush, drinkable style. In short, 2023 seems to offer the approachability of 2017 with some of the concentration of 2022.

Vineyards surrounding the village of Pernand-Vergelesses. (Image credit: Massimo Santi / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

The race to ripeness

January was warmer than the average, with weather that was dry but not sunny. February and March were also slightly warmer than the norm, although heat at this point does not help ripen the grapes.

March and April saw clouds and rain, yet budbreak began at the beginning of April, just a few days behind schedule. Rain continued after budbreak, making it difficult for growers to work in the vineyard.

The rain slowed in late April and temperatures began to pick up in May. Flowering began from 27 May and proceeded rapidly and thoroughly, setting a large crop of grapes on the vines.

June was mostly sunny and warm, but temperatures began dropping in July, which remained overcast and cool. July and the first half of August were punctuated by periods of rain, with sporadic hail, notably in Meursault and in the Mâconnais.

During this period, the grapes ripened with difficulty. ‘In July, the grapes were green and hard, and we were wondering if we were ever going to see veraison,’ says Bertrand de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Then the sun arrived. Robin Rapet at Domaine Vincent Rapet describes scorching heat at the end of the season – 35°C in Pernand on 24 August, and similar temperatures continued throughout the harvest, dropping to a still sultry 20°C during the night.

This heat caused sugar levels to jump and acidity to drop precipitously. Grapes went abruptly from not quite ripe to the verge of overripe, with high alcohol and not enough acidity. The speed of ripening in this window meant that the harvest date was very important.

Picking and sorting

Picking began as early as the end of August for some producers, although many waited until the first or even the second week of September and the late pickers were still bringing in grapes in the last week of September.

In the end, nature delivered exactly what was required. If there had not been a heatwave, the large crop would not have ripened properly. Conversely, if there had been the same level of heat with a smaller crop, it would have been overly concentrated and overripe.

However, even with the relative balance of 2023, there were many reports of wines with over 14.5% alcohol. Estates aiming for top quality needed to sort for sunburn, shrivelled grapes and mildew.

Frédéric Weber of Bouchard Père et Fils says they lost 10%-12% of the crop on the sorting table after having done extensive green harvesting in July.

Charles Curtis’ wines of the vintage

Red: Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 99pts

White: Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru 98pts

Decanter vintage ratings: Côte d’Or

2023: Whites 4/5 Reds 4.5/5

2022: Whites 4/5 Reds 4.5/5

2021: Whites 4/5 Reds 3.5/5

2020: Whites 4.5/5 Reds 4/5

2019: Whites 4/5 Reds 5/5

Concluding thoughts

In the final analysis, 2023 is a very good vintage. Once maturation is complete, top wines will merit a splurge. Even the most enthusiastic, however, must concede that 2023 misses top marks because of difficulties linked to high crop load and low acidity.

The vintage must be considered at least a slight step down from 2022, if only because the results are less homogeneous. Commercially, the vintage will be welcomed by growers because the bountiful yields will fill their cellars; and by consumers who might have access to the wines they desire, perhaps even at prices that will not soar anew.

Given the difficulties we will all face with the 2024 vintage, this should be welcome news indeed.

Vineyard in Burgundy. (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Around the appellations

Côte de Nuits

There was potential for excellent quality in the Côte de Nuits, though there were several pitfalls that growers had to avoid.

Village- and premier cru-level appellations in the Côte de Nuits produced 37.3% more than the five-year average, according to the BIVB regional wine board, while the grands crus were up 33.1%.

The quality of Pinot Noir at harvest declines rapidly with over-production, and limiting the crop was vital.

The Côte de Nuits had more rain than the rest of Burgundy. This increased the potential for rot. The vineyards also suffered sunburn and raisining during the harvest heatwave that necessitated careful sorting, with top estates generally reporting losses of 10%-15% on the sorting table.

Best producers:

Domaine Armand Rousseau
Domaine Dugat-Py
Domaine Trapet
Domaine Ponsot
Domaine des Lambrays
Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Domaine Georges de Vogüé
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg

Côte de Beaune

The Côte de Beaune faced some of the same perils as the Côte de Nuits, but rainfall was lower. Chardonnay, thicker-skinned than Pinot, is less susceptible to rot and can sustain higher yields.

However, rapidly declining acidity during the harvest heatwave was a constant concern, and choosing the right day to begin harvesting was paramount.

Growers on the hill of Corton tended to pick earlier than their colleagues in the Côte de Nuits, reflecting the difference in rainfall here.

Claude de Nicolay of Corton’s Domaine Chandon de Briailles notes that the last of the Pinot to be brought in suffered a bit of shrivelling from the sun, and that the acidity ‘was not enormous’. Because of the relatively low acidity, the level of volatile acidity began to rise, so the wines were sulfured earlier.

Nearly all of the négociant houses in Beaune began to pick their 2023 crop during the first week of September.

Frédéric Weber of Bouchard Père et Fils in Beaune says: ‘It proved very difficult to get the right rhythm for picking. It was necessary to sort rigorously, but it was also important to pick quickly. We had a team of 200, but we had to be everywhere at the same time’

Best producers:

Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Domaine Michel Lafarge
Domaine de Courcel
Domaine Niellon
Domaine Lamy-Caillat
Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey
Domaine Paul Pillot
Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet
Domaine Michel Mallard
Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils

Côte Chalonnaise

The Côte Chalonnaise was generally drier than the Côte d’Or. After a dry winter and an ideal flowering, however, the rain set in for the Côte Chalonnaise in July.

The storms in July produced 110mm of rain throughout the month and, as elsewhere in Burgundy, there was pressure from mildew.

The ripening was drawn out. Picking began on 7 September and continued with the Pinot in Givry and Montagny, wrapping up at the end of the month in Mercurey.

The effects of the rain were more pronounced in the south than in the north and differences in rainfall meant varying levels of ripeness, yet there was an average of 13.5-14% potential alcohol without chaptalisation.

Best producers:

Clos de Cellier aux Moines
Domaine du Meix Foulot
Domaine Belleville
Maison Chanzy
Domaine Génot-Boulanger

Mâconnais

Yields in the Mâconnais were more moderate than elsewhere. BIVB statistics show that the white wine villages of the Mâconnais produced 19.1% more than the five-year average; for the Côte de Beaune the figure was 26.3%.

The swings in weather conditions, however, were often more extreme here. After a mild, dry early season, the Mâconnais had much more rain in June than elsewhere. July continued to storm, and three days of hailstorms (9, 11, and 15 July) ended with some tornados.

Damage was highly localised, but the French website Vitisphere noted 20-40% crop losses in the northern Mâconnais.

In the Mâcon-Villages region in the north, the harvest heatwave was also more pronounced than elsewhere, with temperatures that locally exceeded 40°C, causing the vines to shut down and blocking maturation.

Best producers:

Maison Verget & Domaine Guffens-Heynen
Domaine de la Soufrandière & Bret Bros
Domaine du Roc des Boutires
Clos des Vignes du Maynes
Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau

COMING SOON

Score table listing Charles Curtis MW’s top Burgundy 2023 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

A taste of the top Burgundy 2023 wines

Wines were tasted non-blind. Wines are listed in order of white then red, then by scores, and then alphabetically by producer. The 2023s are bottled from January 2025, hence prices, stockists and alcohols are not yet finalised. Contact specialist merchant for allocations or to enquire about en primeur tastings. The following 40 wines were Charles Curtis MW’s selection for particularly notable quality and value among the 650 wines he scored from the 2023 Burgundy vintage.

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Perfect Pairings for mature Burgundy

Best value Burgundy and Bordeaux

Best value Burgundy 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 08:00:53 +0000

Best producers:

Jean Chartron
Lucien Jacob
Domaine Cécile Tremblay
Domaine Pierre Boisson
Sylvain Pataille
Domaine Michel Lafarge

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Bourgogne 2022 wines

One might be forgiven for thinking that ‘value Burgundy’ requires an elastic definition of ‘value’. And yet, it does exist. It is possible to drink (relatively) inexpensive, decidedly high-quality Burgundy, and sometimes from very celebrated producers, without spending a fortune.

The trick is knowing where to look. Let’s begin at the base of the pyramid, since nearly a third of the ‘value’ selections in our print edition were regional (i.e. ‘Bourgogne’) appellations.

Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes

Particularly in hot vintages such as 2022, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes are a great option. At their best, these can be light in body, with perfumed fruit, floral aromas, and abundant fresh acidity. These wines come from high-elevation vineyards above the ‘mainline’ Côte d’Or villages.

These sites once ripened grapes with difficulty, but success is much more widespread in today’s warming climate. There are two appellations, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, both are spread over tiny, picturesque villages in the upper reaches of the Côte and high-elevation portions of the mainline villages.

In total, 28 villages are entirely classified as Hautes-Côtes and portions of another 14 villages. Many well-known producers own plots in the Hautes-Côtes; there are also exciting producers based there who are eminently worthy of discovery.

Celebrated producers making wine in the Hautes-Côtes: Thibault Liger-Belair, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Méo-Camuzet, Anne Gros, Jean Chartron

Growers based in the Hautes-Côtes: Edouard Delaunay, Domaine Naudin-Ferrand, Domaine Hoffman-Jayer, David Duband, Lucien Jacob

Bourgogne Côte d’Or

Another source of great value wines (although often more expensive than the wines of the Hautes-Côtes) are from the relatively new appellation of Bourgogne Côte d’Or, established in 2017.

These wines are from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from selected climats classed as Bourgogne within the mainline Côte d’Or villages from Dijon to Maranges. They can be from a single village or blended from several.

Some producers, such as Domaine Hubert Lignier, eschew the new label but produce masterful wines that conform to the same criteria. These vineyards are often found on the far side of the Route Nationale in deeper soils.

Although these terroirs generally have less potential than village wines, when the vines are old, they can produce delicious wines with much of the depth of flavour of their village neighbours.

Top producers of Bourgogne Côte d’Or : Domaine Cécile Tremblay, Domaine Amiot Servelle, Domaine Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, Domaine François Carillon, Domaine Pierre Morey, Domaine Pierre Boisson.

Other grape varieties

In addition to the classic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that dominate Burgundy’s vineyards, the region produces white wine from Aligoté and red wine from Gamay (mostly blended with Pinot Noir to produce Bourgogne Passetoutgrains). These are also well-suited to a warm vintage. Aligoté is an aromatic grape variety with aromas of citrus and herbs, and it has a high natural acidity that it retains until late in the growing cycle. Gamay gives a perfumed, grapey scent and soft tannins that won’t be heavy in a hot year. Both Aligoté and Passetoutgrains are regional level (with the exception of the village-level Aligoté grown in Bouzeron) and very often modestly priced.

Top producers of Aligoté : Sylvain Pataille, Domaine A. & P. de Villaine (Bouzeron), Domaine Paul Pillot, Domaine René Bouvier, Domaine Nicolas Faure

Top producers of Passetoutgrains: Domaine Michel Lafarge (who also produces a great Aligoté), Domaine Pierrick Bouley, Domaine Robert Groffier, Domaine Trapet

Top 10 2022 whites by value

94 points Domaine François Carillon, Bourgogne, Le Vieux Clos

94 points Vins Rijckaert, Viré-Clessé, l’Epinet

93 points Domaine A&P de Villaine, Bouzeron

93 points Domaine Merlin, Mâcon, La Roche-Vineuse, Les Cras

93 points Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne Aligoté, Les Auvonnes au Pepe

93 points Domaine Johannès Violot-Guillemard, Hautes-Côtes, La Foulotte

92 points Domaine des Deux Roches, Saint-Véran, La Côte Rôtie

92 points Maison Verget, Mâcon-Pierreclos, Lieu Secret

92 points Domaine Fabien Coche, Bourgogne Aligoté

92 points Domaine Pierre Morey, Bourgogne, Côte d’Or

Top 10 2022 reds by value

95 points Domaine Lamy-Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er Cru Les Morgeots

94 points Domaine Berthaut-Gerbaut, Fixin, En Combe Roy

94 points Domaine Michel Lafarge, Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, Anthologie

94 points Domaine Jessiaume, Santenay, La Cassière

93 points Domaine Chicotot, Nuits-St-Georges, Aux St-Juliens

93 points Domaine Faiveley, Mercurey, 1er Cru Clos du Roy

93 points Domaine Trapet, Côte de Nuits Villages, Meix Fringuet

92 points Domaine du Cellier aux Moines, Givry, Le Petit Cellier

92 points Domaine Amiot Servelle, Bourgogne, Côte d’Or

92 points Domaine Roger Belland, Maranges, 1er Cru Les Clos Roussots

All Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

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Top-scoring value Burgundy 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top northern Côte de Beaune 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 09:00:18 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Domaine Bonneau du Martray (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Domaine Chandon de Briailles (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Domaine Comte Senard (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Domaine Michel Mallard (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Domaine Rapet (Corton/Corton-Charlemagne)
Bouchard Père et Fils (Beaune)
Maison Louis Jadot (Beaune)
Maison Joseph Drouhin (Beaune)
Domaine Chanson (Beaune)
Domaine des Croix (Beaune)
Domaine Albert Morot (Beaune)
Domaine Simon Bize (Savigny)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Côte de Beaune 2022 wines

Growers on the hill of Corton seemed pleased with their results in 2022. Claude de Nicolay from Domaine Chandon de Briailles described the season: ‘I am happy with the result: it was not an easy vintage but a great vintage. We started picking the Chardonnay at the end of August and the Pinot Noir at the beginning of September, and we finished around 15 September.’

Michel Mallard was also pleased: ‘The grapes were clean and ripe, but not too ripe. We picked from 26 August through 4 September and had potential alcohol levels that touched 14% on occasion but will give very approachable results.’

Lorraine Senard waited until 4 September to pick; she noted that acidity levels were a bit lower than in 2020, but the health of the grapes was extraordinary.

There are marvellous wines to be found this year on the hill of Corton in both colours and at every level. The red Corton grand crus are tannic, dark, and full-bodied; the best will require some patience before opening.

Premier crus in Aloxe, Ladoix, and Pernand are still beautifully ripe but less aggressively structured, and there are some exciting village-level wines as well. Among the white wines, there is a tendency to richness at every level that some will love and others will find overwhelming.

The wines from the top of the hill and those from west or southwest-facing slopes in Pernand will often have the best acid balance.

David Croix was refreshingly candid regarding conditions in this part of Burgundy in 2022, noting that the very well-drained areas of Savigny’s alluvial fan suffered from the heat in August. He was also one of the few growers discussing rising alcohol levels; he picked his Beaune premier cru Pertuisots at 14.4%.

The ripeness of the vintage was a boon for many of the Savigny premier crus that ripen with difficulty in cooler years.

In Beaune itself, Geoffroy Choppin de Janvry at Domaine Albert Morot commented that there was less acidity and concentration in 2022 than in 2020, but they were gratified by the generous yields in 2022: ‘The domain never made as much wine as it did in 2022, and if the wines are less powerful than 2020, they have more balance.’

In 2022, they began picking the Pommard and the Beaune Grèves in August but waited until 4 September to pick the remaining vines. Because of the superb conditions and relative abundance of grapes, this should be a good year to try the red premier crus from the top négociant houses, which have shown exceptional promise; one hopes prices remain moderate.

All Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring northern Côte de Beaune 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Meursault 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 09:00:38 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Domaine Fabien Coche
Domaine Albert Grivault
Domaine Michel Bouzereau
Domaine de Montille

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Meursault 2022 wines

The archetypical Meursault is ripe, almost honeyed, with notes of butter and a nutty quality. Lovers of this style of Meursault will not be disappointed by the 2022 vintage.

Because the flavour profile of Meursault is so often rich, it is imperative to keep as much freshness as possible in the wines in a sunny, hot year such as 2022. The best growers picked their harvest date carefully to make this happen. Guillaume Lavollée at Génot-Boulanger said: ‘We’d rather pick too early than too late.’

His work has paid off, with potential alcohols for most cuvées between 12.5% and 13%. The worst impact from the heat in the Côte d’Or was on the hillside vineyards in Puligny. However, the drought conditions were more severe in the Côte Chalonnaise, where they picked first.

In the end, they enjoyed ‘correct’ acidity levels, which is encouraging in the context of the year. Summing up his thoughts, Lavollée said it as, ‘a beautiful year for both reds and whites.’

There was a lot of activity at Domaine Henri Boillot in Meursault, since it was the first year of Guillaume Boillot’s négociant project with his wife Camille. He remarked: ‘We started to pick on 27 August – after everyone’, yet his results are superb and do not lack freshness.

Pierre Lafon began picking on 20 August – among the earliest – to keep the wines crisp. He has succeeded admirably, reining in alcohol at 13%. They finished picking by 2 September, and the result is admirably chiselled and compact.

Look for particularly successful wines from high-elevation Blagny and from the village-level Les Clous and Les Vireuils that may outperform their more renowned neighbours further down the slope. These wines ripened well in 2022 but retain a refreshing structure, although exceptional wines were made throughout the village.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700 Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Top-scoring Meursault 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Pommard and Volnay 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 16:32:56 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine de Courcel (Pommard)
Domaine de la Commarine (Pommard)
Domaine Joannès Violot-Guillemard (Pommard)
Domaine A.F. Gros (Pommard)
Domaine Michel Lafarge (Volnay)
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville (Volnay)
Domaine Pierrick Bouley (Volnay)
Domaine François Buffet (Volnay)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2022 wines

South of Beaune, vignerons were delighted with what Frédéric Lafarge described as a ‘perfect’ vintage. Flowering was even, early, and thorough, and there was more balance to the rainfall, with several smaller showers rather than a deluge in June and then a drought. This rain allowed the vines to work straight through and ripen the large crop.

The wines from Volnay seemed even more supple and lush than is usually the case, while those from Pommard are riper, and the tannins are not as formidable as they can be in a lesser year. Guillaume d’Angerville placed the vintage between 2018 and 2020 in terms of quality and style, saying: ‘It is perhaps more exuberant than 2018 but less elegant than 2020’.

The team from d’Angerville began to pick on 23 August, a few days before Lafarge (26 August). Other vignerons such as régisseur Yves Confuron at Domaine de Courcel waited much longer. Confuron noted: ‘We started to pick on 10 September – if you’re going to extract, you need some tannin.’

Other growers in Pommard went in the opposite direction. Joannès Violot-Guillemard said: ‘This year, we did our best not to extract [too much]; we punched down only once, six days into the fermentation, by foot; the rest of the time, only pumping over, and no rack-and-return.’

Caroline Parent of Domaine A.F. Gros described a similar regime, adding that her brother Mathias kept the fermentation to just 10 days to prevent over-extraction. The teams at A.F. Gros picked slowly, starting on 1 September and continuing until 17 September to ensure phenolic ripeness.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

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See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Gevrey-Chambertin 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 09:52:12 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Armand Rousseau
Domaine Dugat-Py
Domaine Duroché
Domaine Trapet
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Domaine Denis Mortet

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring 2022 wines from Gevrey-Chambertin and the Northern Côte de Nuits

The 2022 growing season in Gevrey-Chambertin and the northern Côte de Nuits was, as elsewhere, hot and dry. Results generally were superb, particularly among growers who effectively dealt with the effects of the sun and drought.

The wines reflect their terroir very well – most have a characteristic Gevrey tannic line, compact structure, and fresh, lingering finish. The wines showed very well out of barrel, but the best of the grand crus (particularly Chambertin, Clos de Bèze, Latricières, and Mazoyères from top producers) will likely close down for at least five to seven years.

Those below the Route des Grands Crus (Charmes, Griottes, and Chapelle especially) should open sooner. Expect to wait three to five years at least for the best premier crus, and even the village wines will be better with some time in bottle.

The focal point of the season for some Gevrey growers was the torrential rainstorm that began on Tuesday, 21 June, turning the streets of Gevrey into rivers. The rain continued throughout that week in Burgundy. In the context of the otherwise hot and dry season, the storms were essential, but in Gevrey, it was almost too much, too fast; although most growers said that the worst of the effects were reasonably localised.

Producers such as Cyrielle Rousseau and Nicolas Rossignol pinpoint the damage as the vineyards near the Combe Lavaux, while those in more protected areas were spared the worst flooding.

Growers in other parts of the northern Côte de Nuits reported similar conditions. Amelie Berthaut, for example, said that her vines in Fixin were damaged by hail, while growers such as Bruno Clair in Marsannay did not report the same damage.

Picking times also varied in the northern Côte de Nuits. Nicolas Rossignol of Rossignol-Trapet began harvesting on 8 September. ‘We needed time to have good maturity, so we waited for our grapes,’ he said.

Despite waiting, he did not report shrivelled grapes or over-ripe conditions and said that potential alcohol ranged from 12.6%-13.2% with moderate yields due to work in the vineyard. Loïc Dugat-Py also reported moderate yields but started much earlier, picking in Gevrey on 26 August to retain freshness. Both domaines produced delicious wines. As long as growers controlled yield and prevented sunburn, the opportunity to make superb wine was there in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Morey-St-Denis 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 09:20:48 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Dujac
Domaine Ponsot
Domaine Hubert Lignier
Domaine des Lambrays
Clos de Tart

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2022 wines

Morey-Saint-Denis saw warm and dry conditions throughout the growing season. Despite this general trend, Alexandre Abel at Domaine Ponsot was surprised at the structure of the wines. He reported ‘correct’ yields of 24-25 hl/ha, unlike 2023, where they picked almost 40 hl/ha. He began to pick on 6 September. The grapes were largely under 14% potential alcohol – most were 13.5% – although total acidity was lower and pH higher than in 2020.

Jeremy Seysses at Dujac also noted the acidity, pointing out that there was much more malic acid in the 1990s and, thus, a more significant shift after malolactic fermentation. ‘It’s ironic that there was much more acidification then than there has been in [recent] warmer years,’ he remarked.

He described the measures they are adopting to combat the warmer temperatures, including more shade in the canopy and permanent cover crop. But he mused: ‘There are vignerons in Burgundy going for higher training and higher density, but in warm regions of the world it is often the opposite.’

Seysses went on to comment that the logistics of picking are becoming increasingly challenging because everything is ripe simultaneously; his team started with the whites on 30 August and moved on to Pinot on 3 September.

Cyprien Arlaud reported picking in two tranches, beginning on 29 August for the young vines and those in danger of heat damage and then returning on 3 September to start the main campaign. He noted that his Bonnes Mares was the most affected by climate change, and as a response, he has scaled back the use of new oak to retain freshness – there were no new casks this year for the Clos Saint-Denis or the Bonnes Mares.

Other strategies to avoid over-concentration outlined by Seysses were to reduce the number of punch downs and shorten the length of the fermentation: Dujac fermented for 11-12 days in total in 2022 as opposed to before when 15-18 days was the norm. Although problems were rare, he felt the potential fell just short of the best years: ‘The wines were missing a bit of that “heart-racing quality” in 2022.’

The best of the 2022 wines from Morey have less tannic grip than their neighbours in Gevrey, but this is recompensed by a lusher character. They tend to be fuller in body; and even if less focused and compact, they are more approachable than most Gevreys at a similar level. Only the top wines from the grand crus will require long ageing before enjoying. I sense that many at the village and premier cru level will open at a relatively young age.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 09:00:45 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (Chassagne)
Domaine Paul Pillot (Chassagne)
Domaine Blain-Gagnard (Chassagne)
Domaine Lamy-Caillat (Chassagne)
Domaine Michel Niellon (Chassagne)
Domaine Jean Chartron (Puligny)
Domaine Alvina Pernot (Puligny)
Domaine François Carillon (Puligny)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2022 wines

The image of Puligny is one of flinty, citrus-inflected wines. In 2022, this profile comes mainly from the higher-elevation climats, particularly Champ Gain, Les Chalumeaux, and the upper reaches of Folatières such as En la Richarde and Peux Bois.

It was also a banner year for Chevalier-Montrachet, with its firm, saline minerality. Montrachet can be toweringly good, although these tend to be very rich wines requiring years of ageing before they reach their full potential. The same is true of Bâtard, and it required a deft hand indeed to produce an elegant Bâtard in 2022.

In Chassagne, a similar dichotomy held sway, with stunningly good wines with great acid balance and lovely lemony fruit coming from Les Chaumées, Caillerets, Grand Montagne, and La Romanée, while vines on the lower reaches of the Morgeot sector sometimes produced dense, heavy wines that lack the elegance of the higher slopes.

Anne-Laure Chartron, managing the vineyards for Domaine Jean Chartron, said: ‘There was no water stress in Puligny – one could look at the vines all summer and never see wilted yellow leaves. There was just a bit of hail in the Saint-Aubin vineyard of Murgers des Dents de Chien.’

Their pickers started on 24 August for the Crémant de Bourgogne. Fellow Puligny grower Alvina Pernot began a few days later on 28 August, while in Chassagne, Thierry Pillot did his best to preserve the freshness of the year and started picking on 24 August and brought in grapes with a potential alcohol of 12.5% that still had a lovely ripe fruit expression.

Bouchard Père et Fils has extensive holdings in Puligny. For technical director Frédéric Weber, it was a beautiful but hot vintage. He noted that the average temperature for the season was 1.5° higher than ever recorded, even in 2020 or 2003, and that there were so many hours of sunshine that it was equivalent to having an extra month of sun.

One of the techniques that they have used to counteract this is to spray the leaves with pulverised clay to act as a sunblock for the grapes. He began to pick Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune on 29 August and ended up with Chardonnay between 13.5% to 14.5% potential alcohol. For him, the profile resembled 2015, giving sunny wines of impressive density.

For growers in the southern Côte de Beaune, 2022 will be remembered as an easy vintage; the trap was over-ripeness, and the crux of the year was properly assessing when to harvest. After the mid-August rain, ripening was ferociously fast.

Those who picked too early lacked fruit expression and risked green flavours from a lack of phenolic ripeness, but those who waited too long risked tropical fruit and a lack of acidity. Those who got it right, however, were able to make superb wine in 2022.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Chambolle-Musigny 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 08:10:59 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Domaine Amiot-Servelle
Domaine Groffier (based in Morey)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2022 wines

Relief at the outstanding results for 2022 in Chambolle-Musigny was tempered by worry over the heat. Overall, 2022 was a scorching, dry year – the hottest ever experienced.

The rain that fell at the end of August helped, allowing growers to pick in September. According to Frédéric Mugnier in Chambolle-Musigny, there was no excess of alcohol with his wines (which averaged 13.6%), although the pH was high. Still, he describes ‘an element of optimism’ in current conditions, despite his belief that the vines ‘are surviving rather than adapting’ to the new conditions.

At its best, Chambolle is about perfume, and the wines of the 2022 vintage are incredibly aromatic. The best are examples of Burgundy at its most seductive and voluptuous, with forward cherry fruit and floral aromas, silky tannins, and a texture that is supple but not insubstantial. Despite being generally lighter than Gevrey or Morey, these wines (particularly from Musigny, Amoureuses, and Bonnes Mares) should age for decades.

At Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, the new régisseur Jean Lupatelli, reported hot and dry conditions. The harvest began in 2022 on 29 August with the young vines and was finished in seven days. The colour is a deep, attractive ruby without being overly dark.

The acid balance was surprisingly good, given the heat, and the average potential alcohol was correct, averaging 13% naturally across the various vineyards. In 2022, the yield was closer to normal at around 30hl/ha across the entire estate.

Lupatelli also noted that the mature vine age meant they didn’t suffer as much from the dry conditions and never shut down in August.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2022 wines en primeur

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:17:23 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Vosne-Romanée)
Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair (Vosne-Romanée)
Domaine Anne Gros (Vosne-Romanée)
Domaine d’Eugenie (Vosne-Romanée)
Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg (Vosne-Romanée)
Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair (Nuits-St-Georges)
Domaine de l’Arlot (Nuits-St-Georges)
Domaine Henri Gouges (Nuits-St-Georges)
Domaine Faiveley (Nuits-St-Georges)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2022 wines

Growers in Vosne-Romanée were ebullient at the results of the 2022 vintage. The best wines combine the richness of Morey and the perfume of Chambolle with a tannic structure that is supple yet still substantial.

The top wines from Vosne are rounder and more complete than anything else in the Côte de Nuits. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti qualified the harvest as ‘exceptional’, saying that the only comparable vintage in recent memory was 1959, while Comte Liger-Belair described the results as a mix between 2010 and 2015, noting that he has racked some of the smaller cuvées early to keep freshness in the wines.

There was less rain in Vosne-Romanée than in Gevrey, but the 75mm the vines received between 22 and 26 June nourished them through the next few weeks. A further 25mm that arrived on 15 to 16 August ensured that the vines did not shut down due to heat stress.

There was little or no pressure from disease, and sorting was necessary only to remove some shrivelled grapes.

Picking dates also varied slightly in Vosne; Michel Mallard, régisseur of the Domaine d’Eugenie, picked his Clos d’Eugenie on 26 August, while Jean-Nicolas Méo waited a few days longer, and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg both began on 1 September.

According to de Villaine, their harvest lasted almost two weeks because of the quantity of grapes, finishing on 13 September when they picked their vines in Echézeaux and Corton-Charlemagne.

In Nuits-Saint-Georges, growers found relief in the weather of 2022, which was less warm than it had been in 2020. In general, the wines were true to form, and many (particularly south of the town of Nuits itself) showed a characteristically rustic edge, adding complexity at the expense of the more polished patina north of town.

The wines were often full-bodied and robust, but because of the heat, the majority were able to ripen the tannins, removing any astringency. Domaine de l’Arlot finished its harvest in August, opting for freshness, while at Domaine Henri Gouges, the harvest began the first week of September; both characterise the vintage as giving moderate yields and alcohol levels.

Score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

All 700+ Burgundy 2022 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Northern Côte de Beaune

Top-scoring Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges 2022 wines:

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Burgundy 2022: larger crop may benefit buyers

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 11:48:20 +0000

The 2022 growing season from April to September saw near-record heat and sunshine for the Burgundy region, but well-timed rains helped to deliver grapes that exhibited few characteristics of a hot summer. The fruit was healthy and ripe, with often lower alcohol levels than in 2020 – also a year of significant heat along with drought across Burgundy – and just slightly lower acidity. In the context of what Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac calls ‘the new normal’, such a result in 2022 must be called an encouraging success.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s Burgundy 2022 selection

Style & quality

The red wines from 2022 are deeply coloured, with a lush fruit expression, full body, well- developed but velvety tannins and abundant extract. The whites have a lush fruit character spanning ripe apple, peach and apricot and relatively soft acidity, suggesting these wines are primarily for early drinking. To achieve proper balance, some winemakers had to acidify.

In both reds and whites, it is the acid balance that holds 2022 Burgundy back from the very highest level, but the wines will be accessible and early- drinking, and the reds should age well.

Early April 2022: candles being lit in vineyards near Puligny-Montrachet to combat the effects of frost. (Image credit: Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images)

Overall quality is very high for red wines and good to very good for white wines. The red wines are consistent from the Côte de Nuits [in the north] down through the Côte Chalonnaise, and there will be many wines worth laying down.

The effect of the heat on the white wines becomes more pronounced as one moves south, though there are exceptions to this and whites also worthy of ageing. In terms of quantity, the yield was up more than 70% from the frost-stricken 2021 harvest – hopefully this will help growers avoid price increases.

Burgundy 2022: Curtis’ wines of the vintage

White: Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Montrachet 99pts

Red: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti 100pts

Decanter vintage rating: Côte d’Or

2022: Whites 4/5; Reds 4.5/5

2021: Whites 4/5; Reds 3.5/5

2020: Whites 4.5/5; Reds 4/5

2019: Whites 4/5; Reds 5/5

2018: Whites 3.5/5; Reds 4/5

Water story

After a cold snap in January 2022, February was much warmer than average and March continued warm, exposing the vineyards to frost in April. Fortunately, the vines had not yet started their growth in earnest, and when the frost arrived between 3-11 April, damage was limited.

Warmer weather followed the frost, and the vines developed quickly. Flowering occurred from 19-26 May, two weeks ahead of the norm.

There was very little loss to coulure or millerandage [fruit-set problems], presaging a very large crop. Just after the bunches formed, the region received a deluge of rain over five days from 21-25 June that varied from 20mm-90mm according to the region, with localised flooding exacerbating things in places.

Thunderstorms brought some hail damage, but it was not widespread. ‘But for that rain, there would have been no harvest,’ says Frédéric Barnier of Louis Jadot.

Frédéric Weber, cellar master and head of the winemaking team at Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils. (Image credit: Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images)

July and August were hot and dry, and if the rain had not topped off water reserves at the end of June, the vines would have suffered the scorching drought conditions. The worst effects were relieved by light showers in July and August, and the health of the vines remained excellent due to the hot and dry conditions.

The sporadic heat stress drew out the ripening. Some growers concerned with freshness picked as early as 20 August, while others – more concerned with ripe skins, seeds and stems – waited until the beginning of September or beyond. The harvest was complete nearly everywhere by the third week in September. Had there been less fruit on the vines, then overripe fruit, higher alcohol and lower acidity would have been more widespread in 2022 – but the abundant grapes and generous rainfall in June set the region up for a vintage with both quality and quantity.

Burgundy’s vines are slowly adapting to the reality of global warming. Perhaps as importantly, grape-growers and winemakers are also adapting their techniques, and 2022 generally appears much more successful than the first global warming vintages of 2003 and 2005. Although the wines don’t have the grip and freshness we saw in 2019 and 2020, the vintage delivered an abundant crop of hugely drinkable wines, including reds that will age gracefully in the cellar.

Jean-Louis Trapet of Domaine Trapet (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Around the appellations

Côte de Nuits

Despite relatively homogenous results, the growing season of 2022 varied from village to village in the Côte de Nuits. The vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin suffered in the storms of late June. According to Cyrielle Rousseau of Domaine Armand Rousseau, it was complicated, with 15 barrels less than average in the producer’s Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St Jacques [due to flooding] and two hail storms.

Nicolas Rossignol of Rossignol-Trapet remarked that the hail hit the northern part of Gevrey, on the north side of the Combe de Lavaux known as the ‘Côte St-Jacques’, where they experienced 170mm of rain in a single week. Hail damage, however, was very localised, and growers to the north and south of Gevrey did not report the same conditions.

Joannès Violot-Guillemard in Pommard (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

The centre of the Côte de Nuits was spared the hail and, according to Dujac’s Jeremy Seysses: ‘This is the “new normal” [heat and sunshine], yet there was not the relentless heat we had in 2003. The nights were cooler than they were in 2003. Although the dates in 2022 were similar to those in 2018, and I was expecting [the wines] to be similar, they’re not.’

Alexandre Abel at Domaine Ponsot comments: ‘2020 was atypical because of the concentration of the tannins and the acidity during the blockage; 2022 is more classic and reminds me of 2015.’

Further south in Vosne-Romanée, Bertrand de Villaine of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti points out: ‘It’s impossible to think of 2022 without thinking of 2021; these are a pair, rather like 2016 and 2017. We have to avoid falling into the trap of having too much sugar, which poses questions for the future since everything seems to be ready simultaneously.’ Luckily, according to de Villaine, ‘in 2022 we were stressed, but the grapes were not in a hurry’.

Côte de Beaune

There was less of an inundation at the end of June in the Côte de Beaune, and a greater frequency of small steady showers in July and August. Growers such as Frédéric Lafarge in Volnay described 2022 as a ‘perfect’ vintage. The rains at the end of June brought much less water than in the Côte de Nuits – 80mm rather than 150mm. However, several smaller showers brought 20mm each throughout the season, which allowed the vines to withstand the heatwave well. Lafarge reports similar pH levels [acidity] to 2020 but slightly lower alcohol, which fell to between 13%-13.5%.

Frédéric Lafarge of Domaine Michel Lafarge, Volnay. (Image credit: Alex Fortson)

In the white wine villages of Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, results were consistent. According to François Carillon in Puligny: ‘2022 was not easy, but almost, with small amounts of rain falling regularly in July and August to encourage ripening.’ He continues: ‘My grandfather never picked in August; my father, twice. I don’t even count the times any more. However, we ended up with pH levels between 3.15-3.20, while in 2015, we were at 3.50. Things weren’t so bad in 2022 after all.’

In Chassagne, Pierre-Yves Colin gave the whites of 2022 the edge: ‘The crop was lower in 2020, and the freshness is about the same, but there is more concentration in 2022… even if you try to make wine for the future, they are showing quite well right now.’

Pierre-Yves Colin in Chassagne-Montrachet (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Côte Chalonnaise

The climate dynamic in the Côte Chalonnaise differs from that of the Côte d’Or in that there are no cooling winds from the Hautes-Côtes streaming into the valleys that break up the slope, since the limestone outcroppings here are more irregular. The region is generally hotter and drier than the Côte d’Or further north, and this proved to be the case in 2022. Overall, the whites (Aligoté from Bouzeron and Chardonnay from Montagny) are lush and rich, with soft acidity, making them an early-drinking vintage; reds from Mercurey were concentrated and tannic, while those of Givry were often silkier and more approachable.

Mâconnais

The 2022 vintage in the Mâconnais was, if anything, even hotter and drier than the Côte d’Or. Winemaker Florent Rouve of Vins Rijckaert notes that excessively hot and dry conditions caused vines to shut down in August, which helped keep alcohol levels in check. Data from the BIVB regional wine board corroborates this, showing slightly lower sugar levels than in the Côte d’Or and marginally higher levels of malic and total acidity. Julien Desplans of Maison Verget and Domaine Guffens-Heynen ventures that ‘2022 risks being a very charming year’.

Clos des Lambrays is one of the five grand cru vineyards within the Morey-St-Denis appellation. (Image credit: Ian Shaw / Alamy Stock Photo)

COMING SOON

The score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2022 wines all scoring 94 points or above

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

A taste of the top Burgundy 2022 wines

Wines were tasted non-blind. Wines are listed in order of white then red, then by scores, and then alphabetically by producer. The 2022s are bottled from January 2024, hence prices, stockists and alcohols are not yet finalised. Contact specialist merchant for allocations or to enquire about en primeur tastings. The following 40 wines were Charles Curtis MW’s selection for particularly notable quality and value among the 650 wines he scored from the 2022 Burgundy vintage.

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Perfect Pairings for mature Burgundy

Best value Burgundy and Bordeaux

Burgundy 2022 en primeur: Larger crop may benefit buyers

Chris Mercer — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 10:48:53 +0000

There has been early praise for Burgundy 2022 wines ahead of the traditional January en primeur season.

‘Overall quality is very high for red wines and good to very good for white wines,’ said Decanter’s Burgundy correspondent, Charles Curtis MW, in a full vintage report coming soon to Decanter Premium and also featured in Decanter magazine’s January 2024 issue.

Alongside high quality, Burgundy 2022 represents a return to ‘modern-day average size’, Will Hargrove, head of fine wine at UK merchant Corney & Barrow, told Decanter in late 2023.

He said the merchant will host its first proper Burgundy en primeur tasting since the pre-Covid era, on 16 January.

The tasting did not run last year due to scarcity of a weather-hit 2021 vintage, especially for white wines.

‘Yields were almost universally higher (for 2022 than 2021) so there should be more availability this year,’ said Julian Campbell, senior buyer – and Burgundy buyer – at Justerini & Brooks, which will host a tasting on 17 January in London.

Campbell said economic conditions will likely impact some consumers, but he still expected strong demand for 2022-vintage wines, noting high quality and also historical levels of interest.

‘For the past decade we’ve had a waiting list for the majority of the Burgundy we offer en primeur,’ he said.

Tight allocations remain a common theme in Burgundy, particularly for the most sought-after wines.

Still, for prospective buyers, Campbell said a combination of higher yields and the economic climate means ‘the vintage should offer customers their best chance of accessing cuvées that have been limited over the past decade’.

He added, ‘It’s definitely a year for customers to chance their arm in asking for wines they might not previously have had access to.’

Burgundy 2022 en primeur release prices to stay stable?

Price rises have been a major debate in recent Burgundy en primeur campaigns, although the picture naturally varies between wineries.

Several producers implemented increases last year to cover costs in the small 2021 vintage.

Justerini & Brooks, Corney & Barrow, Goedhuis & Co and Berry Bros & Rudd all indicated prior to Christmas that they anticipated release prices for the 2022 vintage to remain broadly flat, compared to last year’s campaign.

While release prices may not fall, many producers already know they have a relatively large 2023 vintage sitting in their cellars, which may ease pressure for further increases, said Hargrove.

Campbell said in December: ‘We haven’t seen many prices yet, but what we have seen has been mainly flat versus last year – and we expect most producers will follow suit.

‘This feels like a sensible move in the current climate.’

Berry Bros & Rudd said in a Burgundy 2022 preview report in early December: ‘It is impossible to generalise, and we have not yet received all our allocations, but prices on the whole remain stable thanks to the security of two back-to-back vintages of good production levels. With the growers facing inflationary pressures on energy, dry goods and wages, this is very positive news.’

Coming soon

Look out for Charles Curtis MW’s full Burgundy 2022 vintage preview on Decanter Premium and in Decanter magazine’s January 2024 issue.

Top Nuits-St-Georges 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 10:53:38 +0000

Best Producers:

Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair

Domaine des Perdrix

Domaine Henri Gouges

Domaine de l’Arlot

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Nuits-St-Georges 2021 wines

Nuits-St-Georges was generally less severely impacted than many neighbouring villages by the weather conditions in 2021.

Nuits is a village with a diverse variety of terroirs, from the premier crus north of the town bordering on Vosne, to the cooler sites in the combe or valley that comes down from the Hautes-Côtes, then to the climats south of Nuits that stretch into neighbouring Premeaux-Prissey.

According to Thibault Liger-Belair, however, his production was reduced by a fairly consistent 25%-30% across the village. He credited very late pruning with helping to minimise losses to frost.

To combat rot, he decided to avoid tilling between the rows since the plants that grow provide a sort of mulch that stops the mildew spores from infecting the rest of the vine.

Liger-Belair also felt that the year’s conditions called for adapting the winemaking. Rather than punching down, he softly turned the cap without crushing the grapes, and he destemmed everything in 2021 to avoid green tannins in the stems.

(Image credit: Serge Chapuis / www.arlot.com)

Sylvie Poillot of Domaine de la Vougeraie agreed on the need to adapt winemaking in a year like 2021. She started picking reasonably early (17 September) in their premier cru monopole Clos de Thorey north of the town and noted that the wines would be bottled early.

Many growers have shortened the length of cask maturation because the lighter, fresher wines of 2021 can’t take too much wood. Louis Meunier at Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron is based in Premeaux-Prissey, but works with parcels across the village; he reported an average yield of a moderate 30 hl/ha but noted that their parcel of premier cru Boudot at the northern tip of Nuits was more affected by the conditions than elsewhere.

Domaine de l’Arlot is also located in Premeaux, where it counts two large monopoles among its holdings. The Clos des Forêts St. Georges is 7.2ha and winemaker Geraldine Godot typically separates it into six distinct cuvées but in 2021 there were only enough grapes for three. The adaptability of the vignerons in Nuits-St-Georges helped ensure the best possible results in a supremely challenging year.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Nuits-St-Georges 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: where to find value

Charles Curtis MW — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 07:00:51 +0000

In the past several years, ‘Burgundy’ and ‘bargain’ have seldom appeared in the same sentence. Despite the price escalation, finding value is eminently possible even in the current market of tiny supply and surging demand.

One possibility is to explore regional appellation wines that receive just the appellation ‘Bourgogne’.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring ‘value’ Burgundy 2021 wines

This appellation is nominally at the lowest rung of the quality ladder, but even the most celebrated domaines produce a Bourgogne (although some are quite expensive). If you search, however, you will find superstar domaines producing a wine of great value that spectacularly over-delivers at this level, such as Hudelot-Noëllat Bourgogne Pinot Noir or Michel Niellon Bourgogne Chardonnay.

Some producers farm the less-expensive vineyards at high elevations above the main slopes of the Côte d’Or known as the Hautes-Côtes. These are also included in the regional category as Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune and Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits.

These appellations can also provide exquisite quality wines that are also exceptional value, such as the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Au Bout du Monde from Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey and the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Corvée de Villy from Thibault Liger-Belair.

Hautes Côtes de Beaune. (Image credit: Vins de Bourgogne)

Another type of regional appellation that should not be overlooked is Bourgogne Aligoté. This white wine grape is widely undervalued since it can produce spectacular wines of concentration, depth and structure in the right hands.

The fruit character is more tangy grapefruit and tarragon than Chardonnay’s ripe apple and white flowers, but the lively acidity and breadth on the palate make this a wine of intense pleasure with food.

Bouzeron in the Côte Chalonnaise is the only village-level Aligoté, yet the grape is grown widely. Marsannay-based Sylvain Pataille is one of the flag-bearers for this grape and he makes several delicious versions, but his Clos du Roy (from a vineyard in Chenôve) is our current favourite.

A bit of searching can land the thirsty collector delicious wines from top domaines that are accessible on release but will also continue to improve with five years or more in the cellar. If you’ve been thinking that ‘everyday Burgundy’ is an oxymoron, these are definitely wines to explore.

Top 10 ‘value’ wines

94 Domaine Alexandre Parigot, Savigny-lès-Beaune PC Les Peuillets

94 Château de Chamirey, Mercurey PC En Sazenay

94 Domaine des Heritiers du Comte Lafon, Macon Milly Lamartine

93 Domaine Henri Boillot, Bourgogne Chardonnay

93 Domaine Belleville, Rully PC Les Cloux

92 Domaine Albert Morot, Beaune Dessus des Marconnets

92 Domaine Jean-Marc Vincent, Auxey-Duresses Blanc Les Hautés

92 Domaine A. & P. de Villaine, Bouzeron

92 Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet, Hautes Cotes de Nuits

91 Domaine Pascal Prunier Bonheur, Monthélie

Top 10 under-the-radar wines

95 Domaine Lamy-Caillat, Chassagne-Montrachet PC La Grande Montagne

95 Domaine Philippe Naddef, Mazis-Chambertin GC

94 Domaine Pierrick Bouley, Volnay PC Clos des Chênes

93 Pernot Père et Fils, Gevrey-Chambertin Les Jeunes Rois

93 Domaine Albert Morot, Beaune Bressandes PC

93 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny, 1er Cru Véroilles

93 Alvina Pernot, Puligny-Montrachet Rue des Vaches

93 Domaine Chataigneraie-Laborier, Pouilly-Fuissé

92 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny

91 Domaine Ghislaine Barthod, Bourgogne

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring ‘value’ Burgundy 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 09:40:08 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (Chassagne)

Domaine Paul Pillot (Chassagne)

Domaine Blain-Gagnard (Chassagne)

Domaine Lamy-Caillat (Chassagne)

Domaine Michel Niellon (Chassagne)

Domaine Jean Chartron (Puligny)

Domaine Alvina Pernot (Puligny)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 wines

In Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, the damage due to frost, cold and rain was severe but varied widely within the villages.

According to Pierre-Yves Colin, of Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey in Chassagne, 2021 was a difficult season that started poorly and delivered few grapes: ‘We had a big problem with quantity, but the quality of the finished wine is better than we could have hoped,’ he said.

He also notes that the damage in 2021 varied widely: in some parcels, he lost up to 70%, while others were off only 5%. In his vineyards, he was helped by two facts: the vines for the regional and village appellations were less affected than others, and where candles protected his top sites, the defence was reasonably effective.

For him, the most challenging task was to choose a picking date that found a balance between the ripening times for the first-generation grapes and the second-generation fruit that sprang up after the frost.

Sébastien Caillat of Lamy-Caillat compares the results to 2016 or 2013, with similar volumes and difficulties with cold, rainy weather. However, he appreciated the challenge of a vintage distinctly different from the previous several.

‘The work in the vineyards was more difficult, but the style [of the vintage] is very interesting, and the wines should age beautifully,’ said Sébastien. He began to pick on 18 September, which was pretty early in the context of the vintage.

Pierre-Yves Colin. (Image credit: www.chassagne-montrachet.com)

Another vigneron to pick on the early side was Thierry Pillot of Domaine Paul Pillot, who said that despite the stressful conditions in the vineyard he is content, now that the wines are approaching their second winter in barrel. ‘I don’t feel the stress of 2021, he commented.

According to Jean-Marc Blain of Blain-Gagnard, it was necessary to adapt the vinification in a vintage such as 2021, noting that he did bâtonnage, which he usually avoids, to give a bit more flesh to the wines.

However, other aspects of his work continued without interruption as he went ahead with his organic conversion in 2021 despite the difficulties. He agrees with Pierre-Yves Colin about the heterogeneous nature of the vintage: ‘Morgeot was off by 80% and Boudriotte by 70%, but the grand crus were only off by 20%, and for the reds it was essentially a normal harvest.’

Although Domaine Leflaive will only show its wines once they are in bottle, we have some perspective on Puligny from Jean Chartron, who says that overall losses averaged 50%, but this is due to the frost, and not to rot and mildew from the rain.

Newcomer Alvina Pernot (granddaughter of Paul Pernot) founded her domaine in 2018 with her husband, Philippe Abadie. They have just completed a new winery, but the fledgling venture was devastated in 2021. ‘We had zero from several appellations, and overall losses were 80%, but fortunately the regional and Puligny village appellations were less affected by the conditions of 2021,’ she remarked.

Despite the harrowing losses in this section of the Côte de Beaune, there will be delicious wines bottled for those lucky enough to find an allocation.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

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See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Chambolle-Musigny 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:16:27 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Georges Roumier
Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Domaine Amiot-Servelle
Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2021 wines

Chambolle-Musigny is known for elegant, delicate wines with an ethereal cherry-and-rose petal fruit and a silky structure more than tannic, concentrated powerhouses.

The 2021 vintage was particularly well suited to making this type of wine; the best this year are beautiful examples. Many producers, such as Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier and Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, picked just a half crop because of the frost.

The new winemaker at de Vogüé, Jean Lupatelli, noted: ‘It wasn’t an easy year, but it was a classic one that brought wines with substance. It was a very stressful growing season that required great focus in the vineyard. Once it was picking time, however, it was not too much work on the sorting table, and we saw that we had done a good job in the vines.’

(Image credit: Vins de Bourgogne)

Other growers had fewer problems with the frost. Christophe Roumier reported that the yield was much lower for the village-level wines than for the grands crus: ‘Two-thirds of our Bonnes-Mares is on the cold terres blanches [soil] at the top of the slope and hadn’t budded out yet, so escaped the frost.’ His 2021 is among the most powerful and complex wines from this site that I tasted this vintage.

As elsewhere, those who pruned late complained less about frost damage. Antoine Amiot-Servelle commented: ‘We didn’t finish pruning until the beginning of April. I thought I was behind but it worked out well and we didn’t suffer much. We are also using cover crops between the rows instead of tilling the vineyard which helped keep mildew down. We picked at an average of 13.5% potential alcohol and took care not to over-extract, but we are happy with the wines.’

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Gevrey-Chambertin 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:16:07 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Armand Rousseau
Domaine Dugat-Py
Domaine Trapet
Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Domaine Bruno Clair

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2021 wines

Even in a year as challenging as 2021, Gevrey-Chambertin remained a fertile hunting ground for great red Burgundy.

Although Bruno Clair said that his frost damage in Gevrey was less severe than it was further north in Marsannay, the damage was still extensive. Cyrielle Rousseau of Domaine Armand Rousseau cites 2021 as the smallest harvest she has ever done, about 40% less than normal. ‘It is the [fermentation] tanks that decided, and we do what they tell us,’ she says. ‘All the smallest ones were full, and the larger ones were empty.’

The village-level Gevrey Chambertins in 2021 often display lively energy. As Loïc Dugat-Py expressed it: ‘The village wines have “peps”, but the grand crus have depth.’ He notes that they lost at least 60% of their crop in the most exposed areas on the flat plain at the mouth of the Combe de Lavaux, but they cut the losses to 40% with the help of candles to fight the frost in the premier crus and grand crus.

Thibault Liger-Belair. (Image credit: Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair)

Chambertin and Clos-de-Bèze are consistently top among the nine grand crus found in the village. Like her father, Rousseau prefers Clos-de-Bèze in cooler years and Chambertin in warmer vintages. Her Clos-de-Bèze in 2021 was a spectacular success.

Another terroir that does particularly well in cooler years is Charmes-Chambertin. Thibault Liger-Belair of Nuits-St-Georges noted that he produced more wine in this appellation in 2021 than he did in 2020. His Charmes, along with others from Domaine Georges Roumier and Domaine Amiot-Servelle, was among the top-scoring wines from 2021.

The best examples of the 2021 vintage in Gevrey-Chambertin have a high-toned red berry fruit character with floral overtones. If the body is often lighter than the past three years and the acidity higher, the wines will display a vibrant energy that will remind some lovers of vintages such as 1991, the best of which have stood the test of time exceedingly well.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Pommard and Volnay 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:15:45 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Michel Lafarge (Volnay)
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville (Volnay)
Domaine de Courcel (Pommard)
Domaine Pierrick Bouley (Volnay)
Domaine Y. Clerget (Volnay)
Domaine Joannès Violot-Guillemard (Pommard)

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2021 wines

Results in the red wine country of the Northern Côte de Beaune were varied. Some growers lost no more than 10%-15% to hail, while others reported 80%-90% losses. Similarly, many producers reported great struggles with rot and mildew, while others worked with healthy grapes, albeit in tiny quantities.

The best wines are truly delicious and can boast the mouthfilling body, velvety structures and ripe plummy fruit for which the region is known, but those results were only possible with the greatest attention in the vineyard, the most rigorous sorting and attentive, sensitive winemaking.

Usually, a tasting at Domaine Michel Lafarge is a joyful thing, as one notices the distinct differences between the cuvées and Frédéric Lafarge explains how each climat responded to the year’s conditions.

In 2021, he was obliged to blend all the Volnay to make one cuvée of village-level wine and one of premier cru. Strict selection and careful blending had their benefits, however, as Lafarge explains: ‘The Volnay premier cru has the generosity of the Clos des Chênes, the minerality of Taillepieds, and the noblesse of the Clos du Château des Ducs.’

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Domaine de Courcel’s Le Grand Clos des Epenots vineyard in Pommard. Credit: Domaine de CourcelGuillaume d’Angerville at Domaine Marquis d’Angerville took the opposite approach, bottling a separate (if small) quantity of Taillepieds, Champans and Fremiets, as well as remarkably successful wines from Caillerets and Clos des Ducs.

Elsewhere in Volnay, some growers were less impacted by the weather. Pierrick Bouley reported losses of 10% in the premier cru sites and 20% in the village-level and regional-level sites, ascribing the difference to very late pruning. Strict sorting was still necessary, as rot and mildew took their toll.

In Pommard, Yves Confuron, régisseur of the Domaine de Courcel, was positive, saying that despite weather more like Brittany than Burgundy, the grapes reached exemplary levels of ripeness (averaging 13.5 % alcohol) and made interesting wines that span black fruit and spice with a sensual, creamy texture, fine tannins and a beautiful balance.

Rising star Joannès Violot-Guillemard reported varied losses, from 10%-80%, according to the appellation. The average was a modest but not catastrophic 20hl/ha. He produced some lovely wines using a slightly different technique: 100% destemming, shorter fermentations and no pigeage. The results were supple, voluptuous and hedonistic wines to enjoy now.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Morey-St-Denis 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:15:00 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine Dujac
Domaine Ponsot
Domaine des Lambrays
Domaine du Clos de Tart
Domaine Hubert Lignier

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2021 wines

The village of Morey-St-Denis enjoys an unbroken swathe of grand cru vineyards from the Clos de la Roche in the north to the beginning of Bonnes-Mares in the south, with the Clos-St-Denis, Clos des Lambrays, and the Clos de Tart between them.

The Clos de Tart is a monopole, and the Clos des Lambrays is nearly so. Both winemakers (Alessandro Noli and Jacques Devauges, respectively) ensured quality by declassifying tracts of their vineyards to premier cru Morey to ensure quality.

The strict selection left them pleased with the results. Alessandro Noli called 2021 ‘classic Burgundy’, Jacques Devauges meanwhile explained that ‘nature was bad and good. We had little fruit on the vines [due to frost damage], low yields, and our recent introduction of biodynamic practices helped the vines to ripen everything in a very satisfactory way.’

(Image credit: Domaine Dujac)

As in Gevrey-Chambertin, the grand crus and the best of the premier crus were less affected by poor weather than the rest of the village. Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac was pleasantly surprised. ‘We picked everything between 12%-13% potential alcohol and although we ordered two tonnes of sugar [for chaptalisation], we only used 200 kilos.’ Dujac‘s range of Morey wines from village level up to Clos de la Roche are all reliably strong.

However, most agreed that yields were lower in Morey than in Gevrey. Alexandre Abel at Domaine Ponsot was among the last to pick, finishing in October. Like Dujac, Ponsot had very satisfactory ripeness levels but their yields were about half of what they could get in Gevrey. The yield for the premier cru blend Cuvée des Alouettes was so low that he added a half-barrel of Clos de la Roche to give a bit more volume (and produce an outstanding wine).

Although low yielding, the best of the Morey vineyards from the top domaines gave more weight and density than Gevrey, with a plump, round feel, balanced acidity and supple tannins that should please wine lovers for years to come.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Meursault | Chambolle-Musigny | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Vosne-Romanée 2021 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:14:26 +0000

Best producers:

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
Domaine Méo-Camuzet
Domaine d’Eugenie
Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Vosne-Romanée 2021 wines

Few were spared the impact of the frost in Vosne-Romanée or neighbouring Flagey-Echézeaux, where many reported losses of 70% – 90%.

Such a drastic reduction in volume poses problems, since making great wine with such a small quantity of fruit is difficult. ‘It’s hard to make beef Bourguignon with only two pieces of beef,’ is how Marie-Christine Mugneret of Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg explained the situation.

The reduced volume led some winemakers to use more whole bunches than usual to fill the tanks. Still, rigorous sorting was necessary to remove bunches touched by mildew and green, underripe stems.

Many growers resorted to cutting out the central portion of the stem at its thickest part and leaving the rest, a very time-consuming process. Bertrand de Villaine expressed the challenge at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: ‘It is very difficult to express the terroir but very easy to make the terroir silent.’

Marie-Andrée Mugneret. (Image credit: Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg)

Another solution to reduced volumes is to blend parcels. Louis-Michel Liger-Belair at the Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair blended all his premier cru parcels, including Petits Monts, Suchots, Chaumes and Brûlées to make one cuvée. However, the concentration of what remained was superb, and the final result was an extraordinary wine. Liger-Belair did bottle Aux Reignots as a sublime stand-alone wine, but his losses were 75%.

Despite the frost damage, there were occasional bright spots. Marie-Christine Mugneret said that their Bourgogne vines were spared. The grapes come from a single parcel known as Les Lutinières that is on the wrong side of the Route Nationale, yet before the AOC was introduced in 1936, the wine was sold as Vosne-Romanée village wine. From 2021, they will include the name of the lieu-dit on the label. Fortunately, it is both abundant and delicious.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Chambolle-Musigny | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Vosne-Romanée 2021 wines:

Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines

Top Burgundy wines: 18 to try from Decanter World Wine Awards

Olivia Mason — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:30:54 +0000

The patchwork of Burgundy‘s landscape, varied appellations and associated terroirs is as complex as it is enticing.

Home of internationally renowned Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Burgundian wines are often regarded as the global benchmark for these varieties, with Old and New World styles habitually compared and contrasted.

Famed for its Premier and Grand Cru wines and centuries of winemaking tradition, Burgundy is known to produce some of the most expensive wines in the world, but its also a great source for delicious white and red wines from Village and regional appellations.

Scroll down to see the top Burgundy wines from DWWA 2022

In Burgundy’s cool to moderate climate, vintage variation greatly affects the styles of wine produced year on year.

Entries from Burgundy in the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards primarily came from wines from the 2019 or 2020 vintage, with 2019 deemed a ‘hedonistic vintage‘ with finesse, elegance and concentration and 2020 even more concentrated, deemed exceptional, if less than typical, as DWWA regional chair for Burgundy Charles Curtis MW explains in Decanter’s Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report.

Results from the 2022 competition saw an impressive seven Platinum medals (97 points) awarded to white and red Burgundy wines, as well as 15 Golds (95-96 points). Outstanding Premier and Grand Cru wines saw a majority of top medals awarded; however, two in the top 18 list below are Village level wines offering good value – and punching well above their appellations as the DWWA judges note.

Discover the highest scoring white and red Burgundy wines to seek out, with many more to discover at awards.decanter.com.

Top Burgundy wines: 18 to try

White

Côte de Nuits-Villages

Dubois & Fils, Les Monts de Boncourt 2020

Platinum, 97 points

Ripe apple, citrus peel, melon, butterscotch, and oak spice with a leesy edge providing interest on the nose. The palate is rich yet invigorating, showing robust oak treatment, with really outstanding vibrant acidity and a creamy density. A wine that punches well above its appellation. Alc 13%

Puligny Montrachet

Château de la Crée, La Garenne, 1er Cru 2019

Platinum, 97 points

Lovely lemony apple fruit with a floral edge and a firm saline minerality on the nose. The texture is fresh and lively with a marvellous balance between the crisp acidity and good levels of extract. Well-integrated oak and a beautiful lingering finish make this a delicious wine. Alc 13.5%

Chablis

La Chablisienne, Les Clos, Grand Cru 2019

Platinum, 97 points

Lovely definition of flavours that range from apricot, melon, and quince to lemon peel, along with facets that encompass creamy, lactic notes, and freshly incisive minerality. The wine is vibrant and long on the palate and should age for years. Finishes with tension and style. Alc 14%

Marks & Spencer, Les Domaines Brocard Organic 2019

Platinum, 97 points

Ripe lemony fruit with a saline/seashell edge and a pleasantly flinty minerality. Very lifted, with herbal notes bringing additional complexity. There is some structure and substance to the wine which is harmonious and well balanced. Altogether pleasant and very good value. Alc 13.5%

Domaine Pinson, Les Clos, Grand Cru 2020

Gold, 96 points

Creamy and rich; this splits the difference between the ripe, lush character of the vintage and the steely freshness of Les Clos. There is a fabulous combination of ripe apricot and nectarine, white flowers, and a tangy, salty edge to this wine. Marvellous. Alc 13%

Domaine Louis Moreau, Les Clos, Grand Cru 2019

Gold, 95 points

Everything one wants from grand cru Chablis: A ripe fruit component that parses orange peel, ripe apricots, and pear fruit with hawthorn blossom and herbal freshness, along with a hint of reduction, a bit of smoke and spice, and a refreshingly saline minerality. A top wine. Alc 13%

Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fèvre, Les Preuses, Grand Cru 2020

Gold, 95 points

Creamy and rich, this wine shows ripe peach and floral notes with a creamy-dense texture. The finish is more mineral, with oyster shell and lemon but also some vanilla sweetness. Great minerality and tension. A classy wine with weight and super balance. Alc 13%

Meursault

Château de Meursault, Les Perrières, 1er Cru 2020

Gold, 95 points

This is powerful and rich but not overly heavy – a heady balance, but still well-calibrated. The intense aromas vary from citrus and hawthorn to ripe apple, hazelnut, and spice. There is weight and extract on the palate with melon and apricot flavours and an opulent finish. Alc 13.5%

Pouilly-Fuissé

Château Fuissé, Le Clos, 1er Cru 2020

Gold, 95 points

Ripe passion fruit and melon with a hint of coconut give this wine an exotic, tropical appeal on the nose. The oak is well-integrated and the texture is creamy and rich but not heavy, and there is enough acidity to carry all those rich aromas to a lovely, lingering finish. Alc 13.5%

Red

Clos de la Roche

Albert Bichot, Hospices de Beaune Cuvée Cyrot-Chaudron, Grand Cru 2020

Platinum, 97 points

Ripe, expressive plum, blueberry, and mulberry fruit accented with notes of rose petal, licorice, and smoke. A rich and mouth filling attack followed by a texture that is firm but not forbidding. The wine shows an elegance and approachability that is gratifying. This should age well. Alc 14.1%

Pommard

Maison Evenstad, Les Grands Épenots, 1er Cru 2019

Platinum, 97 points

Ripe blackberry and black cherry fruits with a bit of the characteristic Pommard iron and leather accents. On the palate it is delicate and refined, velvety, and brimming full of redberry fruits. There is a lovely energy and elegance to this wine with a core of limestone freshness. Alc 14%

Volnay

Madame Veuve Point, Clos des Chênes, 1er Cru 2019

Platinum, 97 points

Classic plum and black cherry fruit with hints of anise, coffee grounds, and earthy torrefaction. Seductive and lively in the mouth, fresh and perfumed with spice and red berry fruits. There is just the right amount of extraction, with grip, density, and length, but nothing is overdone. Alc 14.2%

Morey Saint-Denis

Albert Bichot, Les Sorbets, 1er Cru 2020

Gold, 96 points

Quite closed and subdued initially but with the blue fruit and floral perfume emerging slowly. The attack is juicy and crunchy, rich but fresh with a cool, limestone finish and precise, chalky tannins. Very juicy and saline – a wine of excellent complexity and balance. Alc 13.2%

Beaune

Bouchard Ainé & Fils, Clos du Roi, 1er Cru 2020

Gold, 95 points

An oaky and heady nose with loads of charm, showing black plums, black cherry, black tea, sage, and gunflint. On the palate it makes a big impression of damson plums, cassis, chalk, and gunflint, finishing with a dusting of velvety tannins. Still very youthful with lovely freshness. Alc 14%

Corton

Domaine Gille, Les Renardes, Grand Cru 2018

Gold, 95 points

Ripe and dark, but there is no heaviness here. Plum and mulberry fruits with accents of earth and mineral, and a subtle rose petal note. There’s a meaty, chocolatey accent with some wildness adding interest and substance. A big wine that should come around nicely. Alc 13.5%

Fixin

Albert Bichot, Clos de la Perrière, 1er Cru 2020

Gold, 95 points

The nose has quite a creamy veneer of oak over the ripe red-black fruit and some charming floral touches. The attack is juicy and rich with red berries, sour cherry, plum, hints of leather, and game. Finishes with a concentration of tannin and body seldom seen in Fixin. Alc 13.4%

Nuits-Saint-Georges

Edouard Delaunay, Les Perrières, 1er Cru 2019

Gold, 95 points

A complex, potent aroma of ripe cassis, violets, anise, and licorice, with some earthy notes. The structure of the wine is simultaneously firmly tannic and approachable at the same time, with some nicely integrated spicy oak. A very powerful wine showing its ageing potential. Alc 14%

Santenay

Château de la Crée, Clos Faubard, 1er Cru 2019

Gold, 95 points

Fresh red fruit aromas of morello cherry, kirsch, and red plums. The palate opens with a lovely dense blackberry fruit flavour with elements of liquorice, anise, black tea, and smoke. The texture is dense and ripe, and there are plenty of well-managed tannins to carry this to a charming finish. Alc 13.5%

See all DWWA 2022 Burgundy results

Chablis 2021: top-value wines

Burgundy 2022 harvest: winemaker optimism running high

Burgundy 2021 en primeur release volumes under pressure

Burgundy 2021: What to expect

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 08:00:24 +0000

Burgundian growers hesitate to share their wines with the press until they feel they are ready to show. In this report, I form some early opinions about the Burgundy 2021s.

Reports from Burgundy after the 2021 harvest were dire – and justifiably so.

Burgundy 2021 weather

After a warm, wet winter, and a cool spell, temperatures climbed sharply at the end of March, bringing on budbreak and the start of growth.

To the grower’s dismay, temperatures plunged on 5 April, and there were three successive nights of hard frost from 6–9 April. The cold conditions combined with moisture in the form of snow ensured devastating losses throughout the region.

Burgundy stayed cold for two weeks, preventing the appearance of the second generation of buds. This defense mechanism of the vine does generate more grapes, but the berries are small, the skins are thick, and they ripen slowly.

In June, temperatures warmed somewhat and flowering occurred on time. Unfortunately, the region was struck by sporadic hail throughout the month: it was the turn of the Côte de Nuits on 9 June, the Côte Chalonnaise on 19 June, and the Mâconnais two days later.

The town of Mâcon. (Image credit: Charles Curtis)

June was reasonably clement, but July and August were rainy, cold and cloudy. There was intense pressure throughout the season from downy mildew and powdery mildew, and there was generally less sun than average from April through the autumnal equinox (22 September).

The grapes ripened with difficulty and did not reach mid-veraison until mid-August, finishing in September. The first ten days of September saw warmer temperatures and some sunshine. Rain and cooler weather arrived for the second ten days which pushed many growers to pick as uncertainty reigned: would the picking teams still be available when the rain stopped? Those who could wait were rewarded by sunny weather at the end of the month.

Most of the grapes were in by 28 September, with some stragglers continuing into October.

Return to a classic style

Not every grower, however, was unremittingly pessimistic. Frédéric Mugnier told me: ‘If you want to know the truth, don’t ask the vigneron. When it is hot and dry, they like it – what that means is the work is easy. When it is cold and raining, and the tractor gets stuck in the mud, they don’t like it – that means the work is hard. But the wines I like to drink are made in such years – intensity without weight. Lovely, charmeur, fresh, floral; in short, very pleasant and not at all heavy.’

Mugnier’s neighbours at Comte Georges de Vogüé agree. The new winemaker, Jean Lupatelli, remarked: ‘It wasn’t an easy year, but a classic one. Despite only having half a harvest, there is a beautiful density of extract.’

Admittedly, it is a bit easier for growers of Pinot Noir in the Côte de Nuits to be sanguine than their colleagues in the Côte de Beaune (the southern portion of the Côte de Beaune was particularly hard-hit by frost). Chardonnay also buds out earlier than Pinot Noir, intensifying the ill effects of the frost. Damage throughout the Côte de Beaune was irregular.

2021 Pinot Noir at Bouchard Père & Fils. (Image credit: Nicolas Demoulin / Bouchard Père & Fils)

Beaune-based negociant Benjamin Leroux remarked: ‘We lost as much as 80% of the crop in some sites – I only harvested 10 hl/ha in Blagny. In Meursault, Narvaux was a disaster and I lost 60% in Vireuil. The damage was very uneven, though, and we lost 50% in our Bâtard. The time of budbreak was the determining factor, although simply pruning later is not necessarily the answer either.’

Jean-Marc Blain of Chassagne producer Blain-Gagnard concurs about the uneven nature of damage: ‘I lost 80% in Chassagne premier cru Morgeot and 70% in Boudriottes, but in the grands crus we only lost 20%, and for the red wines it was almost an average harvest. The variation has to do with the microclimate in Volnay and Pommard, but grassing over between the rows is a big help in humid years.’

The effect on the wines

The overall effect of the disastrous weather is difficult to gauge at this early stage. Unlike Bordeaux, where trade and critics descend for the en Primeur tastings in the April following the vintage, most Burgundies are not tasted until six or seven months after that – more than a year after harvest.

Fermentations can be slower and the rhythm of the winemaking is different in Burgundy. Typically, Burgundy is not offered for sale en primeur until the January after the following harvest.

I did persuade a few growers to share their wines, which they insist are a ‘work in progress’. In May and June, I tasted over 270 wines from 2021, and I will return in October and November to taste through at least a thousand more. I can summarise my initial thoughts after this first look as follows:

2021 harvest at Bouchard Père & Fils. (Image credit: Nicolas Demoulin / Bouchard Père & Fils)

Red Burgundy

Top red Burgundy from the Côte de Nuits should be delicious. The best growers made perfumed, elegant wines with no hint of green on the nose and silky tannins.

The body of the wines generally is light, and the vintage is more about perfume than power. The best wines, however, should age quite well, at least through the mid-term. The vast majority are not built for long-term ageing, but they should be accessible early and drink well for at least a decade. Think of these as wines to drink while you wait for your purchases from 2018, 2019 and 2020 to mature.

The best red wines from the Côte de Beaune often fared better than the whites, and many growers reported their harvests in Pommard and Volnay were among the least impacted. The wines here will emphasise elegance and perhaps be a bit light but are worth considering.

A lofty appellation is not a guarantee of quality, but there are good wines out there. It has been my experience that only experienced and savvy winemakers were able to navigate the tricky shoals of the 2021 vintage. However, alcohol levels are moderate and the vintage should be a return to a classic style of red Burgundy.

Unfortunately, less expensive red wines from minor terroirs seem correspondingly less promising. There were many instances of underripe fruit, acerbic tannins and sharp acidity. It will be essential to choose carefully since the year demanded precise work in the vineyard, severe sorting, and an experienced hand in the winery to manage extraction with less-than-pristine fruit.

Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards. (Image credit: Charles Curtis)

White Burgundy

White Burgundy is in a slightly different place than red. Because Chardonnay buds out earlier than Pinot Noir, the devastation is much more widespread. On the other hand, the thicker skins are less susceptible to mildew, and the grape can support more rain at the end of the season than the more delicate Pinot Noir.

It is also the case that higher acidity levels, lighter body, and a slightly green cast to the fruit are less objectionable in white wines than in red. 2021 is, in principle, a year that favours white over red, although given the heterogeneous nature of the year it is difficult to generalise.

In the better premier and grand crus of the Côte de Beaune, the best wines are lively and fresh, with firm acidity, bright, lemony fruit and noticeable minerality. Wines of substance and depth will reward ageing for at least a decade.

A number of white wines from the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais provided attractive quality, with a lilting freshness, pretty floral aromas and more structure than one would think. These may prove among the most solid values for the year. As with the reds, it is necessary to stick with quality-minded growers attentive to the management of the vineyard to get the best purity of fruit.

2021 was undoubtedly a challenging year in Burgundy, particularly following shortfalls in 2019 and 2020 due to heat. Frost and hail, mildew and rain at harvest – vignerons were tested at every step. But this does not mean that lovely wines were not made.

Indeed, I found many delicious wines with more classic Burgundian levels of colour, tannin and acid that nonetheless show charming fruit and do not lack intensity.

Exploring white Burgundy in three steps

Remembering Clive Coates MW, an authority on Burgundy and Bordeaux

Decanter New York Fine Wine Encounter masterclass: Charles Curtis MW’s favourite Burgundies

Best Burgundy 2020 premier cru wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 15:18:50 +0000

‘The unique conditions – economic as well as meteorological – of 2020 mean it is an exceptional Burgundy vintage,’ said Charles in his Burgundy 2020 en primeur vintage report.

Yet he found himself questioning whether the wines from the 2020 vintage truly reflect what most consumers perceive to be a Burgundian style.

Across the region yields were much lower than usual and the fruit was particularly concentrated.

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Burgundy 2020 premier cru wines

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Even though it is the grand cru wines that tend to score the highest, Charles noted that the premiers crus from the highest reaches of Puligny, Chassagne and Meursault, such as Puligny Champ Gain, Chassagne La Romanée or Meursault Blagny, offered excellent quality.

In the first year that Pouilly-Fuissé could label its premier cru wines, the wines fared particularly well: ‘It is gratifying that the first year to see wines labelled as premier cru was so successful,’ said Charles.

Looking at Morey-St-Denis, Charles encourages readers to seek out the wines from Premiers Crus Chaffots and Monts Luisants.

‘In Puligny-Montrachet, look for the Premiers Crus La Truffière, Caillerets, Folatières and Champ Gain, while in Chassagne, the Les Chaumées and La Grand Montagne were particularly good,’ he said.

In Gevrey-Chambertin it was a good year for Premier Crus Cazetiers, Clos St-Jacques, Lavaux St-Jacques and Aux Combottes, while in Chambolle-Musigny Charles finds excellent quality in the Premiers Crus Les Fuées, Les Cras and La Combe d’Orveau.

Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-St-Georges were showing strongly in the following premiers crus: Beaux Monts, Aux Brûlées, Les Petits Monts and Malconsorts in Vosne, and Damodes, Chaignots and Les St-Georges in Nuits.

Below is a list of the top-scoring premier cru wines from Charles’ Burgundy 2020 en primeur report.

See Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Burgundy 2020 premier cru wines:

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Mâconnais en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Nuits en primeur wines

Best value white Burgundy 2020 en primeur to buy

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 12:44:33 +0000

As the hottest vintage in Burgundy since the start of the century, it’s no surprise that the wines are showing a high concentration of fruit, with high levels of tannins in the reds and richness, density and ripeness in the whites, particularly in the Côte Chalonnaise.

This was the first year for Pouilly-Fuissé’s premier crus and Charles Curtis MW found it was a resounding success, producing ripe wines that ‘retained a lively acidity’, he said.

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Charles highlights Vergisson as a stand out area for well-balanced, delicious wines this year and Domaine Barraud’s Mâcon-Vergisson ‘La Roche’ can even be found in the top value list below.

‘In the warm, sunny conditions of 2020, the Mâconnais delivered lush fruit, but there was also solid value, and top producers have given us wines of balance and even tension’, Charles said in his report.

Find the tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-value white Burgundy 2020 picks below.

Top-value white Burgundy 2020 wines:

Charles Curtis MW’s top 10 value white Burgundy 2020 wines

Best value red Burgundy 2020 en primeur to buy

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Best value red Burgundy 2020 en primeur to buy

Charles Curtis MW — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 12:43:11 +0000

Charles Curtis MW tasted over 1,200 wines for his Burgundy 2020 en primeur report and despite it being yet another hot year, he discovered some sublime wines from producers that have managed to tame the concentration of fruit.

‘The results are delicious, but they hardly conform to many wine lovers’ idea of what Burgundy is’, he said, as aromas and flavours in the reds tended more towards black fruit than red.

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Cool nights, wind, early harvesting and sorting for sunburn has allowed producers to craft some excellent wines despite such dry conditions.

If money is no object, Charles Curtis MW recommends seeking out reds from Bonnes-Mares, Richebourg, Ruchottes-Chambertin or Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts.

However, Charles has also compiled a list of top value reds, featuring wines from appellations such as Santennay, Marsannay and Chorey-les-Beaune.

’The Côte Chalonnaise is perhaps the best region to hunt for good value reds, an increasingly scarce commodity.

In 2020, these will offer plenty of structure and density, as well as a lush, sensual fruit that should provide both the balance for drinking young and the stuffing for mid-term ageing’, said Charles.

The list below even includes some value premier cru options from Aloxe-Corton and Mercurey.

Find the tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top value red Burgundy 2020 picks below.

Top-value red Burgundy 2020 wines:

Charles Curtis MW’s top 10 value red Burgundy 2020 wines

Best value white Burgundy 2020 en primeur to buy

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top Meursault and Montrachet 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 11:25:50 +0000

Among the whites, the best of the Meursault Perrières are breathtaking, and there are marvellous wines from Meursault Gouttes d’Or and Bouchères as well.

In Puligny-Montrachet, look for the Premiers Crus La Truffière, Caillerets, Folatières and Champ Gain, while in Chassagne, the Les Chaumées and La Grand Montagne were particularly good.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Meursault and Montrachet 2020 wines

This will give you a good selection from the top villages of the Côte de Beaune.

The good news is that many of these will be approachable young, yet the best of the reds will last 30 years or more and the whites at least 20 years.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Beaune 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

In Meursault, Brian Seve of Domaine de Montille seemed very content with results: ‘The profiles of the 2018s and 2020s have some similarities, but the level of acidity in 2020 is more evident,’ says Seve. ‘Because of the concentration, they taste as though there is higher acidity, even if pH is largely the same, and for the red wines this appearance of freshness keeps the fruit profile more in the red than black. Ultimately, all the alcohol levels are around 13%. My Beaune Premier Cru Les Sizies is 12.8% for example; nothing is chaptalised and nothing is acidified.’

Paul Delorme, cellarmaster at Domaine Roulot, seemed equally pleased: ‘We picked from the 20th of August through to the 29th, beginning with [regional-level] Grandes Coutures on the Puligny side and finishing on the Volnay side. Everything was about 13% alcohol, with a pH of around 3.2 (3.22 for the Bourgogne Blanc). 2020 is the vintage that rediscovers the energy of the 2017s,’ he concludes.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Morey-St-Denis | Gevrey-Chambertin | Chambolle-Musigny | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

Benoît Riffault of Domaine Etienne Sauzet in Puligny concurs: ‘The 2020s are refreshing but not brisk. We started picking on the 22nd of August. The early-ripening sites with thin, stony soils retain lots of freshness, while those with deeper clay soils are more compact and dense.’

Jean-Marc Blain of Domaine Blain-Gagnard expanded this thought, noting that acidity levels improve as the soil recovers from its excess potassium of the 1960s and 70s.

Even in 2020, the pH levels were between 3.2-3.3, with moderate alcohol levels.

His niece, Caroline Lestimé of Jean-Noël Gagnard, agrees, taking as an example her Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru Les Chaumées: ‘The yield was 21 hl/ha; normally it is 58 hl/ha,’ she reveals. Across the board we are down at least 30-40% due to drought, millerandage and frost, but the results are really concentrated and very fine.’

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Meursault and Montrachet 2020 wines:

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Mâconnais en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Nuits en primeur wines

Top Pommard and Volnay 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:59:14 +0000

To the south of Beaune in Pommard, Caroline Parent-Gros of Domaine A. F. Gros noted: ‘2020 was a year of drought and concentration, but a concentration of both acidity and sugar.’

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2020 wines

Picking dates in this sector were very early due to the concentration and the danger of sunburn. Guillaume d’Angerville began to pick on the 19th of August, a record for his estate.

See the Burgundy 2020 score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Beaune wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

Guillaume dAngerville of Domaine Marquis d’Angerville (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Most winemakers left as much foliage on the vines as possible and followed through with a ‘hands-off’ policy.

‘I didn’t touch the vines at all,’ says rising star Joannès Violot-Guillemard in Pommard. ‘I punched down only once and shortened the length of fermentation; everything finished very quickly.’

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Gevrey-Chambertin | Chambolle-Musigny | Vosne-Romanée

Even producers such as Nicolas Rossignol who typically favour a firm extraction showed restraint: ‘This year, it’s more about infusion than extraction,’ explains Rossignol.

Overall, the classic red wine terroirs of Rugiens and Epenots in Pommard, and Volnay’s Les Caillerets, Champans and Clos de Chênes were all reliable.

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Pommard and Volnay 2020 wines:

Related content:

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Chalonnaise en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Beaune en primeur wines

Top Chambolle-Musigny 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:54:32 +0000

In Chambolle, Christophe Roumier was pleased with his results: ‘The surprise of the vintage is the freshness of the wines. The village-level Chambolle suffered in 2020 due to the lack of water, but the old vines not as much. There was less alcohol in 2020 than in 2018, and more complexity than 2019.’

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2020 wines

See the Burgundy 2020 score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Nuits wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

Christophe Roumier of Domanie Georges Roumier (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

It was, above all, important to vinify carefully.

As Charles van Canneyt of Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat put it: ‘We don’t want to make 2005 all over again’, referring to the hard tannins of that vintage.

Away from the grand crus, it is a great year for the premier crus Les Fuées, Les Cras and La Combe d’Orveau.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Chambolle-Musigny 2020 wines:

Related content:

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Chalonnaise en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Beaune en primeur wines

Top Gevrey-Chambertin 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:51:26 +0000

According to Denis Bachelet in Gevrey, 2020 ‘was a vintage where the wines resembled the Rhône more than Burgundy’.

He notes that his yield was 35-40% below an average harvest.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2020 wines

Fellow Gevrey vigneron Loïc Dugat-Py was pleased with his results: ‘We began to pick on the 20th of August, but the old vines did not suffer too much from the dry conditions. The weather concentrated the sugars and the acidity simultaneously, and we have a similar quantity as in 2019. Potential alcohol levels were 13-13.5% at harvest, with pH levels between 3.1-3.2.’

See the score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Nuits 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

Dugat-Py (whose teams pick early in the morning) attributes this partly to the fact that he did not hedge the vines or pull any leaves until one week before the harvest.

Satisfied with the quality of the fruit, he did not feel the need to adapt either the percentage of whole clusters (which remained high) or his habit of punching down to ensure extraction.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Rossignol at Domaine Rossignol-Trapet was surprised at the balance of the vines. ‘Between the 15th of June and 15th of August, there was no more than 10mm of rain,’ he recalls.

‘Fortunately, there was another 20mm on the 20th of August and again on the 27th. Despite the rather severe drought conditions, there was no “figging” of the grapes [over-ripe, cooked or jammy flavours], and the overall yield was similar to 2019.’

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Chambolle-Musigny | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

All of the nine grand crus in Gevrey produced delicious wines, and it was a particularly good year for Ruchottes-Chambertin and for Premier Crus Cazetiers, Clos St-Jacques, Lavaux St-Jacques and Aux Combottes.

Gevrey-Chambertin 2020 top value wines:

Domaine Rossignol-Trapet, Aux Etalois, Gevrey-Chambertin, 2020

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Gevrey-Chambertin 2020 wines:

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Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

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Top Morey-St-Denis 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:46:02 +0000

In Morey-St-Denis, Jacques Devauges at Domaine des Lambrays calls 2020 a ‘historic vintage’.

‘The broad lines are striking: 30% less rain than normal and 20% more sun,’ he says. ‘Sunburn was a problem for the vines classed in village or premier cru, but the grand cru parcels were planted parallel to the slope which provided protection. Still, the yields were meagre – 15 hl/ha for the old vines sensitive to coulure.’

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2020 wines

See the score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Nuits 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

Clos de Tart winemaker Alessandro Noli concurs: ‘The property produced 60 barrels in 2020, 65% of a normal harvest. Usually the grapes are plumper, but this year each picking case weighed in at 315kg instead of 380kg.’

He crushed the fruit gently by foot to avoid over-extraction, using only a single treading for the entire harvest.

In addition to these grand crus, seek out Clos de la Roche and Clos St-Denis, as well as the Premier Crus Chaffots and Monts Luisants.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Meursault | Gevrey-Chambertin | Chambolle-Musigny | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2020 wines:

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Top Vosne-Romanée 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:35:01 +0000

In Vosne-Romanée, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair was very sensitive to the risk of ‘figging,’ noting that his whites were significantly affected, as were the younger Pinot Noir vines.

‘We sorted three times at the end of the vine rows to eliminate the problem,’ he explains.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Vosne-Romanée 2020 wines

Marie-Christine Mugneret was pleased, if a bit hesitant, about her 2020s: ‘Everything is above 14% alcohol, and the Bourgogne Rouge, at 14.8%, is the highest. We extracted colour and tannin very gently. There is such a level of alcohol and concentration that we will have to wait and see what it will give us.’

See the score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Nuits 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

Her neighbour Etienne Grivot seemed more sanguine: ‘The acidity level is perfect and alcohol levels are lower than they were in 2018. 2019 will please connoisseurs, but the 2020s are moreish [‘gourmand’] and should please everyone. They are not monstrously atypical and there is a pleasantly spicy, saline side to them.’

In addition to the grand crus, seek out Beaux Monts, Aux Brûlées, Les Petits Monts and Malconsorts in Vosne, and Damodes, Chaignots and Les St-Georges in Nuits.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Morey-St-Denis | Meursault | Gevrey-Chambertin | Chambolle-Musigny | Pommard and Volnay

The world of wine lovers waits with the same combination of anticipation and trepidation as these winemakers to see how the wines of this historic vintage will show in the years to come.

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Vosne-Romanée 2020 wines:

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Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Chalonnaise en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Beaune en primeur wines

Top Mâconnais 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 09:59:14 +0000

At the end of a relatively warm and sunny winter season, budbreak in the Mâconnais occurred at the end of March.

According to Audrey Braccini of Domaine J.A. Ferret, the rains at the end of April ensured that the vines were an entire month ahead of an average vintage.

This advance continued as flowering was completed in mid-May and an ample crop was set on the vines.

Scroll down for tasing notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Mâconnais 2020 wines

There was welcome rain in June throughout much of the region, but there was little pressure from mildew or rot. Most of the month was sunny and warm, with the first signs of veraison occurring in early July.

Braccini notes that there were variations within the Mâconnais and that the northern sector was drier than the region south of Fuissé, thus producing wines of greater concentration.

Picking began on the 24th August and a large, healthy crop was brought in, with all the generosity of 2018 but better acidity levels.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Mâconnais 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

How the Mâconnais 2020 wines are tasting

Lovely wines were produced throughout the Mâconnais, particularly from the appellations Mâcon-Villages, Pouilly-Fuissé, St-Véran, Viré-Clessé and Mâcon-Vergisson, where many sites face east or northeast and sit high on the slope. This location helped mitigate the effects of the heat in 2020.

Viré and Clessé were classed with Mâcon-Villages until 1999 when they became the first village-level wines to break out from this semi-regional category. Both are located in the northern part of this zone. Wines from local specialist Domaine Les Grands Crays were delicious.

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See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits| Côte Chalonnaise

The first year for Pouilly-Fuissé’s premier crus

It was also a solid year for Pouilly-Fuissé. It is gratifying that the first year to see wines labelled as premier cru was so successful.

Here the grapes ripened well but retained a lively acidity. Delicious wines were produced throughout the zone, although those around Vergisson stand out here as well. Look for the lieu-dit La Roche to explore these well-balanced wines.

Growers also made delicious wine in the southernmost reaches of the Mâconnais such as St-Véran, and Verget enjoyed particular success.

In the warm, sunny conditions of 2020, the Mâconnais delivered lush fruit, but there was also solid value, and top producers have given us wines of balance and even tension.

Mâconnais 2020 top-value wines:

Domaine Ferret, Hors-Classe Tournant de Pouilly Cuvée, 1er Cru Les Reisses, 2020

Domaine Barraud, La Roche, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Vergisson, 2020

Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, Clos du Four, Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine, 2020

Mâconnais 2020 top producers:

Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon

Verget

(These two producers delivered fine work across many appellations)

Domaine J.A. Ferret

Domaine Daniel & Julien Barraud

Château-Fuissé

(These three producers stand out for their Pouilly-Fuissé)

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Mâconnais 2020 wines

Burgundy 2020 en primeur: Full report plus top-scoring wines

Top 2020 Côte Chalonnaise en primeur wines

Top 2020 Côte de Beaune en primeur wines

Top Côte Chalonnaise 2020 en primeur wines

Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 09:56:38 +0000

By every measure, the Côte Chalonnaise was the region most affected by water stress, heatwave and sunburn in 2020.

The region was consistently two weeks or more in advance of the norm. The midpoint of budbreak was in March, of flowering, in May, and of veraison in July.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Charles’ top-scoring Côte Chalonnaise 2020 wines

According to Jean-Baptiste Bordeaux-Montrieux, proprietor of venerable Givry estate Domaine Baron Thénard, this was the earliest harvest on record – they started picking on the 18th of August.

The Côte Chalonnaise was even further along than their neighbours to the south in the Mâconnais.

The sugars accumulated (and the malic acid fell) most rapidly here, as one might surmise.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Côte Chalonnaise 2020 wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

The overall effect on the white wines

The effect of the heat was perhaps least traumatic for the Aligoté in Bouzeron. While this variety ripens early, it has high natural acidity, and while the wines were rich and dense, they were still in balance.

Chardonnay has lower overall acidity levels and was thus more severely impacted in the Côte Chalonnaise.

This tendency to heaviness was most evident for me in the appellations Montagny and Montagny Premier Cru in the southern section of the Côte Chalonnaise, while some of the wines from Rully were more attractive. Most of the Chardonnays I tasted were lush, ripe wines for early consumption.

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See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Beaune | Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais

The overall effect on the red wines

Although the thin-skinned Pinot Noir was at relatively high risk of sunburn and raisining, those producers who sorted for these conditions had the potential to make top quality wines in a dark-coloured, tannic mould.

While many of these are hardly typical of either Pinot Noir or Burgundy, there were notable successes in Mercurey and Givry.

My top-scoring wine from the region was the Mercurey Les Montots from Domaine A. & P. de Villaine.

The best of these wines have an almost freakishly deep colour, but they also have the density and tannic grip to age, and enough acidity to provide balance.

The Côte Chalonnaise is perhaps the best region to hunt for good value reds, an increasingly scarce commodity.

In 2020, these will offer plenty of structure and density, as well as a lush, sensual fruit that should provide both the balance for drinking young and the stuffing for mid-term ageing.

Côte Chalonnaise 2020 top-value wines:

Château de Chamirey, Mercurey, 1er Cru Ruelles, 2020

Domaine A & P de Villaine, Bouzeron, 2020

Côte Chalonnaise 2020 top producers:

Château de Chamirey (Mercurey)

Domaine A. & P. de Villaine (Bouzeron and Mercurey)

Domaine Baron Thénard (Givry)

Domaine de la Ferté (Givry)

Joseph Drouhin (Rully)

See Charles Curtis MW’s tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Côte Chalonnaise 2020 wines:

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Charles Curtis MW — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 09:53:07 +0000

This region suffered the most from the drought conditions, so it was necessary to manage sun exposure for the Pinot and extract colour and tannin gently; for the Chardonnay, it was essential to maintain acidity.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Côte de Beaune 2020 wines

Assuming neither pH nor alcohol levels got out of hand, the potential for great wine existed.

There were fabulous red and white wines around the hill of Corton, particularly in the cooler sites near the top, and the west-facing slopes in Pernand.

Both red and whites in Beaune also had potential, but the quality was less homogeneous here.

See the Burgundy 2020 score table listing Charles’ top Côte de Beaune wines all scoring 95 points or above

See all 650 Burgundy 2020 tasting notes and scores

At Bonneau du Martray in Pernand-Vergelesses in the north of the Côte de Beaune, they started to pick on the 25th of August – Pinot first and then Chardonnay.

They had 85% of the crop in before a big rainstorm on the 27th interrupted picking. In general, the grapes were picked at 13.5% potential alcohol with a pH that averaged 3.13.

‘The wines showed good minerality and freshness, and should have more balance than those of 2019,’ according to estate manager Thibault Jacquet.

Quick links:

See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

Côte de Nuits | Mâconnais | Côte Chalonnaise

Some producers in the Côte de Beaune began to pick early to retain maximum freshness. Michel Mallard started to pick at his domaine in Ladoix on the 20th of August and was finished by the 29th.

Others preferred to wait for fuller physiological ripeness. David Croix of Domaine des Croix in Beaune waited until the 24th to pick and finished on the 30th.

Much of the difference depends on the specific terroir. Chisa Bize of Domaine Simon Bize in Savigny-lès-Beaune notes that in 2020, sandy lieux-dits such as Les Marconnets can be difficult, while those with more clay such as Grands Liards ‘sort themselves out quite easily’.

Côte de Beaune 2020 top-value wines:

Domaine Jessiaume, Clos du Clos Gênet, Santenay, 2020

Domaine Michel Mallard, Aloxe-Corton, 1er Cru Les Valozières, 2020

Domaine Comte Senard, Chorey-lès-Beaune, 2020

Domaine Lucien Jacob, Savigny-lès-Beaune, 1er Cru Vergelesses, 2020

Benjamin Leroux, Auxey-Duresses, 2020

Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, St-Aubin, 1er Cru Chatenière, 2020

Domaine Henri & Gilles Buisson, Sous la Velle, St-Romain, 2020

Côte de Beaune 2020 top producers:

Principally for white wines

Domaine des Comtes Lafon

Domaine Roulot

Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey

Domaine Etienne Sauzet

Domaine Bonneau du Martray

Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard

Domaine Paul Pillot

Principally for red wines

Domaine Marquis d’Angerville

Domaine Michel Lafarge

Domaine Michel Mallard

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Côte de Beaune 2020 wines:

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Domaine Henri & Gilles Buisson, St-Romain

Domaine Georges Chicotot, Nuits-St-Georges

Domaine Alvina Pernot, Puligny-Montrachet

Domaine de la Commaraine, Pommard

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Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s Burgundy 2024 selection

Burgundy 2024 vintage rating and overview:

Whites: 4/5

Reds: 3/5

First impressions

Weather Conditions

Charles’ wines of the vintage:

Previous vintage ratings:

Around the appellations

Côte de Nuits

Top Côte de Nuits producers in 2024:

Côte de Beaune

Top Côte de Beaune producers in 2024:

Côte Chalonnaise

Top Côte Chalonnaise producers in 2024:

Mâconnais

Top Mâconnais producers in 2024:

Concluding thoughts

COMING SOON

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COMING SOON

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