2012 Burgundy: Beaune, Pommard & Volnay

14 Jan 2014

Hospices de BeauneBoillot, Comte Armand, Drouhin

This is the epicentre of that part of Burgundy that really upset the weather - and all other - gods in 2012, and again last year. They had it all. There was hail, rain, heat spikes, lousy weather at flowering; you name it. The -Montrachets had most of this too, but not quite as extreme. What they did have however was healthy fruit. The ventilation between and within bunches provided by the hail damage meant that botrytis was about the only problem missing from the list of disasters.

We didn't taste anything which hinted at hail-strike, but one of the week's most impressive on-the-day line-ups of white wines was at Pommard producer J-M Boillot. Lydie was desolate at the tiny quantities but quality across the board was tremendous. The wines really sang.

At Drouhin it is a similar story. Veronique has told how much field work this organic domaine had to do to keep up with the depradations of the vintage. They are also a good example of another problem set Burgundy producers in 2012: how to deal with such small quantities of liquid. In Drouhin's case they ordered fewer, larger oak barrels and some stainless steel ones too, to balance out the amount of new oak needed. But the wines they made were of such high quality that phrases like 'absolutely magical' and 'highly recommended' are appearing in critics' notes.

There's no new oak at all at Comte Armand, where tiny quantities of healthy fruit has made wines for which the only word is purity. /CW