Best Burgundy 2016 wines: The top scorers

See Burgundy 2016 wines rated above 95 points by William Kelley, following extensive tasting in the region ahead of the coming en primeur campaign by merchants in early 2018.

Scroll down to see William Kelley’s Burgundy 2016 wines over 95 points
Read the in-depth report here

Brief overview

Burgundy 2016 will be at least partially remembered both inside and outside the region for the devastating frosts that struck many vineyards, including premier cru and grand cru sites, in late April of that year.

Few could remember frosts so bad. ‘I’ve never heard of Echezeaux freezing,’ Emmanuel Rouget told William Kelley, whose full Burgundy 2016 vintage report will be published online for Decanter Premium members soon.

Some wineries later saw frost damage compounded by mildew, and subsequently there will be even smaller-than-usual quantities of wine in the worst hit areas.

As is so often the case, damage was patchy and parts of Burgundy survived relatively unscathed. The bad weather has increased a sense of heterogeneity in the young wines from the vintage.

A warm and dry summer from mid-July onwards helped considerably during the growing season and, as a consequence, there are still superb wines to seek out, spanning different appellation levels and price tiers, writes Kelley.

Several top estates hit hard by weather conditions on some sites still performed well with their remaining crop, like Domaine Armand Rousseau, which lost around 60% of its 2016 harvest in Chambertin Grand Cru, Kelley writes.

Early signs suggest that this is more of a red Burgundy vintage than one to rival the very top years for white wines.

Kelley’s ratings show many wines above 95 points, but with fewer white wines making the cut at this level versus 2015, for example.

His top scoring wines of the vintage, shown below, are still expected to have significant life spans, stretching beyond three decades in several cases.