Burgundy 2018 en primeur: Full report

Burgundy 2018 reds

Plush and textured but with freshness and minerality

4/5

Burgundy 2018 whites

Freshness and vibrancy in the early-picked whites

3.5/5

‘Choose carefully and this is a vintage that will give you immediate pleasure and also age well in the medium-term.’

Historic is a word that has been widely employed to describe the Burgundy 2018 vintage. It was certainly a year of extreme weather – the hottest since 2003 – and of large volumes, particularly for white wines.

But what about overall quality? Some have compared 2018 to the semi-mythical 1947, while at least one UK importer has claimed that many domaines have produced their ‘finest-ever’ reds. The truth, as it invariably is in Burgundy, is much more complicated

The 2018 growing season

There were two key factors in the growing season. The first was the wet and mostly mild winter. February was dry and cold, but otherwise the period from November 2017 to March 2018 was marked by well above-average rainfall. This meant that the water table was high and the soils had plenty of precious humidity, which was not the case in 2003.

The second key factor was the torrid summer temperatures between June and September, which were hotter in Dijon than in Marseille. Burgundy had 290 hours of extra sunshine in 2018. As négociant Mark Haisma said, ‘It was like being back in Australia.’

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Our extra Burgundy 2018 en primeur reports:

Chablis

Côte de Beaune

Côte Chalonnaise & Mâconnais

Côte de Nuits

Top scoring wines

Best premier cru wines 2018

Top value red wines

Top value white wines

It’s complicated

Sugar levels at harvest were elevated in many vineyards, and not always in step with phenolic ripeness, so picking dates were even more important than normal.

‘It was the most complicated vintage I’ve ever experienced,’ said Claudie Jobard, of Remoissenet Père et Fils. ‘The problem was that everything ripened at the same time.’

Summer rain helped in some villages. Frédéric Lafarge, of Domaine Lafarge in Volnay, said that rain almost fell ‘to order’, but 2018 was still very much a climate change vintage, just like 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017.

Acidification was more common than people were prepared to admit, as were stuck fermentations. Chaptalisation almost belongs to another era.

A mixed bag

It is extremely difficult to generalise about the wines. Viticulture, harvesting schedules and what happened in individual cellars all had an impact on style and quality.

Alcohol levels vary from 12% to 20% (yes, you read that correctly); colours in the reds range from washed out to opaque; and while many wines are clean and perhaps surprisingly well balanced, faulty ones are also in evidence.

Watch out for marked volatile acidity, brettanomyces and figgy notes in some of the reds and dilution and bitterness in some of the whites.

Comparisons and verdict

Does 2018 resemble another vintage? Yes and no. As already mentioned, it was hot and early. But as Bertrand de Villaine, of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, put it, ‘People are talking about 2003, 2009 and 2015, but similar growing seasons don’t necessarily produce similar wines.’

It’s also true that producers are learning how to deal with such vintages. ‘2003 vaccinated us against what happened in 2018,’ said Nicolas Groffier, of Domaine Robert Groffier. ‘We didn’t make the same mistakes twice.’

Quality

In short, the 2018 vintage is both unique and heterogeneous. More than ever, it makes sense to follow individual producers rather than villages or vineyards.

The best whites – helped by the high yields and, in some cases, by early picking – are fresh and vibrant, if less so than the 2017s, while the top reds are plush and textured but with freshness and minerality, sometimes from the use of whole bunches.

Many Burgundians told me that they were pleasantly surprised by how the wines have turned out and by how they have tightened up in barrel and bottle. ‘They were quite broad in their youth, but now have tension,’ said Dominique Lafon, of Domaine des Comtes Lafon.

Pricing

Choose carefully and this is a vintage that will give you immediate pleasure and also age well in the medium-term.

Final prices on some markets will depend on political factors, while the recent US import tariffs may well add to the final bill there, but there’s plenty of good wine to go around.

Buy the grands crus if you have the money, although these sometimes had the highest alcohol levels, being based in some of the warmest sites. But don’t overlook village and generic wines.

The hot, dry summer produced healthy grapes everywhere and some good to very good bottles. You just need to pick the right ones.

Top 10 producers to watch:

Domaine Bachey-Legros (Santenay)

Domaine Claudie Jobard (Demigny)

Domaine Confuron-Gindre (Vosne-Romanée)

Domaine du Roc des Boutires (Pouilly-Fuissé)

Domaine Jacques Prieur (Meursault

Domaine Jacques Saumaize (Vergisson)

Domaine Ste-Barbe (Viré)

Jean-Claude Boisset (Nuits-St-Georges)

Maison Champy (Beaune)

Nicolas Rossignol (Volnay) 

Decanter vintage ratings

Côte d’Or reds

2018: 4

2017: 3.5

2016: 4.5

2015: 5

2014: 4

2013: 3

2012: 4

2011: 4

2010: 5

2009: 4.5

Côte d’Or whites

2018: 3.5

2017: 4

2016: 4

2015: 3

2014: 5

2013: 3.5

2012: 4

2011: 3

2010: 5

2009: 3.5