Top northern Côte de Beaune 2022 wines en primeur
Ripe and generous yields were the hallmark of the northern half of the Côte de Beaune in 2022 say Charles Curtis MW.
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
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See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:
Morey-St-Denis | Chambolle-Musigny | Chassagne & Puligny-Montrachet | Vosne-Romanée & Nuits-St-Georges | Pommard & Volnay | Gevrey-Chambertin | Meursault
Top-scoring northern Côte de Beaune 2022 wines:
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