Burgundy 2021: What to expect
In a first look at the Burgundy 2021 vintage, and ahead of the annual report coming later this year, our correspondent Charles Curtis MW assesses the weather conditions throughout the growing season and shares his opinions on the region's wines following initial tastings.
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.
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).
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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.
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:
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.
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.