Which Burgundy vintages to drink this Christmas

Burgundy: splash out for seasonal refinement

The holiday season can be stressful enough without having to worry about which vintages of wine to open. A good bottle of Burgundy will surely cheer your festive guests, but given the price of Burgundy today, one wants to get it right. Fortunately, there are good possibilities to suit every occasion and budget.

The first consideration is to serve a wine that is open and showing well. Often Burgundy wines will be delicious when first released. The current vintage – for most now 2018 or 2019 – can work well, particularly in warm vintages such as these. Wine lovers who enjoy forward, lush primary fruit should not hesitate to open these wines, particularly regional Bourgognes and some village-level wines, both red and white.

Scroll down to see a selection of top Burgundy bottles from vintages to open this Christmas

However, white wines at this stage can still be fairly marked by the influence of the casks used for ageing. Wines where this is true (typically good premiers crus and grands crus) are often not showing well at this stage. It is also often the case that firm tannins make top reds in the current-release vintage challenging to taste. Prudence counsels patience.

Finally, the better village-level wines and more accessible premiers crus will only improve with a bit more age. Accordingly, we will recommend an ideal vintage for good white Burgundy, for respectable reds, and really top red Burgundy…

See a selection of top Burgundy bottles from vintages to open this Christmas

Wines are listed in the order of vintages above – they were selected as the best examples from each year that have all been tasted within the past 12 months.