Top Morey-St-Denis 2023 wines en primeur

Top producers in 2023:

• Domaine des Lambrays
• Domaine Hubert Lignier
• Domaine Ponsot
• Clos de Tart
• Cécile Tremblay

Scroll down for Charles Curtis MW’s 20 top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2023 wines

Morey-Saint-Denis faced similar opportunities and risks as the rest of the Côte de Nuits – the opportunity was for a large crop of ripe grapes; the risk was a crop that was too large and too ripe. Many in Morey-St-Denis performed a green harvest to control yield.

As elsewhere, growers who worked well were successful. Jacques Devauges at Domaine des Lambrays says: ‘We carried out a very careful de-budding, and normally I am not a fan of green harvesting, but in 2023 it was [also] needed.’

Laurent Lignier of Domaine Hubert Lignier in Morey-St-Denis says that the grapes in 2023 had lower acidity than in 2022, so lowering yields helped to emphasise the wines’ minerality and freshness.

Alec Seysses of Domaine Dujac agrees, given the conditions of the year, but notes that reducing yields by green harvesting is not always the right answer: ‘The “less is better” approach is often an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist any more with global warming,’ he says.

Fruit drop

Cyprien Arlaud at Domaine Arlaud says that even having carried out de-budding (early in the season), it was still necessary to drop fruit both before and after veraison, when the colour of the grapes changes.

When this is done after veraison, the process is sometimes called a blue harvest, as it involves removing fruit that has already started to ripen.

Alessandro Noli at Clos de Tart describes a similar necessity: ‘We started [harvesting] very early and had a lot of fun, and we ended up with 34hl. 35 is the limit. We asked for an exception but didn’t need it.

‘We did more de-budding than green harvesting, although to hit our targets, we had to do both. There was also some sorting for acid rot before the harvest. The balance was very pleasant because when there is too much concentration, the wines can be a bit austere, although if yields go too high, quality can drop.’

He continued: ‘One of the implications in 2023 was that to bring in grapes at an elevated pH one runs the risk of microbial problems, such as a bloom of Brettanomyces.’

Alexandre Abel at Domaine Ponsot says that the higher yields meant more freshness, to the extent that it took longer to ripen the large crop.

He said: ‘The 2023 vintage is perhaps a bit less accessible and less fruity, but there is more freshness than there was in 2022. 2022 was good everywhere, while 2023 was less homogeneous, but there will be wines with a lovely freshness.’

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:

Meursault | Chambolle-Musigny | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges | Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet | Best value

Top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2023 wines:

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