2013 Burgundy: a year of subtle charm

It is reassuring that the critics who have published their 2013 notes love the vintage. There's little reward in being the only one who is correct about something. Even those writers who don't much like wine seem to have enjoyed their tasting. That ripeness and tension that so many of the wines share is subtle but alluring and will be accessible fairly early for Burgundy. As ever here, producer is key and our expanding selection of the region's finest provides buckets of pleasure in this vintage as in most others.

The singular qualities of 2013 are well worth remembering: the elegance and just-ripe qualities of the reds: they almost all have a haunting texture of silk and superb phenolic ripeness that you don't always find in so-called great vintages. They have beautifully tempered fruit and mineral flavours and all scream of their origins. That last point is true of the whites too. Richer than the reds, as should be the case, they are beautifully balanced. They have racy acidity and structure and the classic mandarine fruit. There are very few with tropical flavours.

For fantastic value and quality scroll immediately to the bottom of the list below. We cannot emphasise enough that the Cote Chalonnaise houses growers that are sometimes unfairly overlooked because of their unglamourous, southern location. Do not make this mistake. Both Jacqueson and Lumpp have superb track records and every cellar should have them represented.

So to jog your memory and give a second chance to those who missed out on all the fun first time round, here is a review of what remains from our Burgundy fortnight. How often do we say to you about Burgundy that it's marvellous but sorry, there's just not enough? Not today! And don't look quizzically at the list below, these aren't leftovers, this is prime stuff. /CW

Offered subject to remaining unsold for shipment 2015/16