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2023
A hot, successful year, and the largest crop since 2009. Most growing seasons start with large potential yields which are whittled down by contrary weather and vineyard events; an easy growing season saw 2023 swerve almost all of these, with the result that by summer the vintage looked on course for huge yields. Serious producers were obliged to perform severe green harvests in summer to bring the crop down to levels where grapes would successfully ripen. Chardonnay manages high yields better than Pinot Noir, which may also explain why the vintage has been judged strongest for whites. Headline figures describing 2023 as the hottest year ever are misleading as they are skewed by unseasonably warm January and February figures, when the wines were still dormant, but harvest also took place under scorching conditions that threatened the welfare of both grapes and pickers. Most domaines tried to restrict picking to the morning hours. By and large the wines do not show signs of being produced in an unusually hot year and retain an attractive freshness.
2023 was judged by most contemporary observers to be strongest for whites. Reds are fresh, appealing and very drinkable, and were not difficult to taste en primeur. As they are not highly concentrated, they are probably for medium rather than long-term cellar aging. At the margins, some wines are dilute, presumably from when producers allowed yields to creep too high. Whites are excellent, achieving attractive ripe flavours whilst keeping good levels of acidity, and should age well.
Read our full 2023 vintage report here.
A mild, dry winter followed by a warm start to the season set the stage for an eventual early harvest. Flowering happened in mid-May under clear skies; thunderstorms at the end of June brought some much-needed rain back to the vineyards (though hail caused some localised damage). Through July and most of August the weather was hot and dry, with some timely mid-August rain alleviating hydric stress. Harvest began in the last week of August, although at some addresses on the Côte de Nuits it dragged out as long as the third week of September. The fruit was in very fine condition and there was little work to do at sorting tables.
Read our full 2022 Burgundy vintage report here.
An intensely difficult growing season led to very different wines from the previous three vintages. Reds are fine-boned and aromatic, relatively light-bodied, majoring on red rather than black fruit notes, and lower in alcohol than recent years, typically clocking in at around 12.5%. They will mostly be for earlier drinking. Whites are tense and energetic. Volumes in both colours, but especially whites, were extremely low: the region saw some of the lowest yields in the last 40 years.
It began like many recent vintages, with a mild, wet winter. Temperatures were soaring by March and vineyards leapt into life. In many areas, vines began budding – especially Chardonnay, which is always more precocious than Pinot Noir. Disaster struck with an Arctic air current in April, and there were three consecutive nights of hard frost. Almost everyone was facing huge losses. By June it was warm again, but unsettled weather interfered with flowering, once again cutting back yields. June also saw hailstorms, which in localised spots stripped some vines entirely. July and August were cool and rainy, and both powdery mildew and downy mildew became serious issues in the vineyard, forcing vignerons to put in long hours. Ripening was slow. September was blessed by some stretches of dry and warm weather, and most growers had brought in their crop by the end of the month. Sorting tables were essential.
Read our full 2021 Burgundy vintage report here.
Another extremely hot, dry year, the third in a row of three very hot vintages, and for many domaines their earliest harvest ever. (Some domaines had started harvest slightly earlier in 2003 – but either way, the important point is that since 2003 there is so much more awareness about how to handle hot vintages). The biggest single surprise about the vintage – and arguably it may be down to vignerons now having a better understanding of how to manage hot vintages – is how much freshness there is in the wines. The whites, contrary to what you would expect from a warm year, are bright and high-energy. The reds are succulent and intense, sometimes dark and concentrated, but almost universally given wings by some surprisingly crisp acidity. It is very much a cellar vintage. The reds are concentrated, they will need time to unfold, and may be expected to have a long cellar life. As Romain Taupenot told us, 'I don't remember such a structured vintage, ever'.
Winter 2019-2020 was mild and rainy. Given what was to follow, that rain was a great thing, building up essential water reserves for the dry months ahead. The mild weather meant the growing season started early. It was the first vintage since 2015 when vineyards were largely untroubled by spring frosts. Flowering was very successful, and the proliferation of incipient grapes pointed to a bountiful harvest. Warm and dry conditions meant there was almost no disease pressure in the vineyard. Drought set in from June, with almost no rain at all between June and September. Whilst flowering had pointed to a late August harvest, with ripening proceeding fast in the long, hot days of August, many growers realised they were going to have to bring harvest forward. Picking began in the middle of August, and moved fast. Almost all the fruit had been brought in by the end of August. Most growers were delighted (and very often surprised!) by the combination of quality and freshness in their fruit.
Read our full 2020 Burgundy vintage report here.
With fewer, smaller grapes, 2019 is a vintage of concentration and intensity. It was also another hot year, and the wines are in a ripe style. The reds will want some to come round in the cellar. The whites are ripe and with plenty of matter.
Winter 2018-2019 was dry, leaving water reserves lower than usual going into the growing season. The vines would have less water to draw on when the hot months of summer kicked in, and this was one of several factors keeping yields low. Frost hit the region twice in April 2019, causing damage mainly on the Cote de Beaune, especially in Chassagne-Montrachet. June and the first half of July saw cool, damp, unsettled weather, leading to coulure (failure of flowers to pollinate) and millerandage (irregularly sized berries), meaning fewer and smaller grapes on the vines. Then a hot and dry summer set in. With low water reserves to draw on, grapes concentrated as water evaporated. The dry weather meant there was very low incidence of disease and when harvest came around mid-September, vignerons were bringing in grapes in perfect condition.
A powerful vintage. Perhaps not one for those who say they prefer 'traditional' Burgundy, but it is also entirely possible that in an era of global warming this is moving towards the new normal.
A heatwave summer and a copious vintage. After the heat of the growing season, the whites were a surprise, anything but flabby. Concentration and ripeness was balanced with a very impressive sense of energy which made them compelling even from release. These whites are a real pleasure to drink now and on paper should also age well. Reds are ripe, rich, and concentrated, relatively alcoholic by the standards of Burgundy, with plenty of matter and the structure to age well. Cool climats and clay soils performed very well.
Welcome winter rainfall topped up the water table, and meant that even through the long dry summer to follow, the vines would always have just enough to drink. Spring was cool to begin with and the season started slowly before accelerating in April. Flowering took place very rapidly for white grapes, ultimately setting the stage for the generous harvest in white grapes. Flowering was slower for red grapes, and as a result the red grape harvest would ultimately be less generous. Summer was hot and mostly dry (other than a few July storms). As harvest approached it was observed that grapes of both colours were ripening fast and picking dates were going to be crucial (and growers were mostly on top of that).
In hot vintages producers in Burgundy often like to use more stems in their fermentations, stems can impart an impression of freshness. But the big crop this year meant that there was already less room in the tanks, and stems add a lot of extra volume. The high level of sugar/alcohol led to many stuck fermentations, and some producers who usually depend on natural yeast were forced to rely on cultured yeast.
Read our trip report here.
Chablis (like most other French wine regions) suffered very badly from frost this year; but otherwise, (for once) Burgundy dodged the frost bullet and returned a bounteous harvest of good quality fruit. Both reds and whites were lovely, in a relatively forward style. It is worth noting that at the time of writing (2024) reds seem to be showing especially well. The best wines of the year do also have the structure to make old bones.
Another mild winter was followed by an early start to the growing season, and growers were certainly mindful of the danger of frost to early buds in a late cold snap. So, when temperatures did drop below zero for a period in mid-April, they were ready. In the early hours of affected mornings (when there was no cloud cover) they set fire to bales of straw around the vineyards. The smoke haze very successfully diffused the sunlight that otherwise would have burst open frozen buds. With the cold snap significantly more severe in Chablis, though (as in much of the rest of France), vignerons were unable to do very much to protect their vineyards, which suffered severe damage.
After that, the weather turned warm and the growing season followed much more normal patterns. May was hot and sometimes wet, June was scorching, July was stormy, with the storms significantly damaging some vineyards. August was cooler and humid, but going into the month drought conditions slowed down ripening. Harvest was spread out through September.
Read our trip report here.
Yields across Burgundy, especially in whites, were decimated by the April frost this year. The lovely second half to the growing season helped fashion some absolutely outstanding red wines. Whites were made in much volumes than usual, and were of variable quality.
The vintage is most remembered for the devastating frost which struck in the early hours of 27th April. After a mild winter, temperatures dropped below freezing on a cloudless night and a huge swathe of vineyard was affected, most significantly in the Côte de Beaune. The worst damage was done not by the buds being frozen, but by early morning sun causing the frozen buds to burst. May was cool and wet, with two significant hailstorms causing more widespread damage. The weather was also erratic, with considerable temperature swings that confused the vines. Rains in June encouraged the spread of mildew, which did as much as the first to limit yields this year. Then, from the last week of June, the weather switched, with sunny, hot days extending almost uninterrupted all the way to mid-September. Harvest took place in the second half of September.
Read our trip report here.
Often listed alongside 2005 and 2010 as a great vintage for the region. There are many fabulous and very cellarworthy reds from this warm year that married concentration, ripeness and (enough) freshness. Whites are riper but slightly less focussed than in 2014, but there are some beautiful examples. In whites in particular, the vintage may have favoured cool and clay-based terroirs.
2015 saw an easy growing season for vignerons, with no major challenges. The crucial flowering period took place quickly in warm, dry conditions – always a good sign. Early summer was marked by what many would call the optimum combination of warm days and cool nights (great for the development of ripe grapes that retain freshness, although the combination does also risk encouraging the growth of powdery mildew). July became extremely hot and dry, with the drought limiting ultimate yields and causing some vines to shut down and temporarily stop ripening. This was also a vintage defined by its luminosity, and constant sunlight (not overcast skies). Arguably light can be as important as heat in encouraging phenolic ripeness in grapes. Chablis was badly hit by a hailstorm just before harvest. Harvest was spread out over the first three weeks of September, and accelerated by showers which setting in around mid-September.
Read our the trip report here.
A fabulous vintage for the tense and energetic white wines. Reds tended to be light and forward rather than concentrated and cellarworthy, but higher up the scale there are some very terroir-expressive wines for medium-term cellaring.
Winter was mild, spring was forward; flowering happened very quickly in a spell of hot weather, and things looked good. The weather turned at the end of June, with hail causing severe damage, mainly on the Côte de Beaune. July was wet, August was cool. Sunny weather returned at the start of September, and harvest took place in the second half of the month.
This vintage was also badly bothered by the Suzukii fly, a pest originally from Asia. It had already been present for a few years, but was very widespread in 2014 after gorging on bountiful harvests of cherries and plums. It can split grapeskins, causing rot. Some winemakers harvested grapes earlier than they might otherwise have done to avoid problems with the fly, but that may have leant an underripe feel to some wines.
Read our trip report here.
A slow, cold spring, and a challenging summer led to an October harvest; reds are fresh and lean, with lower-than-average alcohol levels. Good producers and good vineyards made wines for medium (but not long) term cellaring. The white wine harvest was more affected by rot and 2013 whites seem to have aged quickly, and survivors should be drunk up.
Spring was cool, damp and overcast (March saw the fewest hours of sunlight ever recorded in Burgundy for that month). May began with flooding, and ended with temperatures cold enough for some snow to fall. June was better, and flowering began towards the end of June, carrying on into July. July was hot and dry, August was sunny without being excessively hot. Intermittent storms made it difficult for growers to get into vineyards to spray, and fungal diseases caused problems. Slow and uneven ripening continued through the mixed month of September. Some white grapes were picked from the end of September; most grapes were picked in September. A lot of sorting was required, reducing what was already a short vintage.
Read our trip report here.
An erratic growing season led to low yields of some quite concentrated wines. These have fared well in cellars.
After a very mild winter, there was a severe late cold snap in February. March was lovely, almost like summer. The next three months were cool and damp, with a night of frost in April, and hail in May. Vignerons really needed to get into their vineyards to treat them, but found that difficult because of rain and damp conditions. Flowering took place slowly in June. July was hot and humid, with downy and powdery mildew rife, demanding vigilance and hard work from growers. August was hot, but punctuated by hailstorms. Harvest took place in the second half of September. After the travails of the growing season, every grower knew that yields were going to be low. Most hadn't realised how low, though; after the summer heat, grape skins were thick, with less juice than expected.
While vintage conditions were not the easiest, with summer rains making life difficult for vignerons, the verdict of time is that the season gave good growers plenty of material with which to make good wines. These have comfortably stood the test of time. Both reds and whites were well balanced between ripeness and freshness.
Spring was precocious, with warm weather settling in from mid-March. Flowering took place early, around mid-March. By the end of June, temperatures with touching 40 degrees. What began as welcome rain in July became unwelcome as it continued. July as a whole was cool and wet, and August was unsettled. Most growers began picking in the last week of the month.
As Jasper Morris MW notes, ' This was the third harvest of the new century to begin in August – compared to only one per century in the previous few hundred years.' Truly, we live in an era of global warming.
A balanced, classical vintage with a fresh, medium-bodied, high-acid style (very much in contrast to the preceding vintage). There is also a dense core to these wines, and they are very cellarworthy, though many should also be great to drink now. Whites were fine and poised, but in most cases should be drunk up.
Vignerons love a cold winter, since it kills vineyard pests. But winter 2009/2010 was cold enough to freeze vines to death in some places, which had not happened since 1985. The season started slowly. Flowering was slow and late (in mid-June), and it clearly wasn't going to be a huge harvest. The first half of July was so hot that there was talk of another 2003, but the weather cooled down substantially after that. Unsettled weather in September was mixed with enough sunny spells to get grape ripening over the line. A strong north wind was welcomed in that it dried out the vineyards after stormy weather.
Two interesting footnotes to 2010. After the bumper harvest the previous year, there were a lot of 1-year-old barrels in circulation – so a lot less new oak was used in 2010 than 2009. And vignerons used a lot fewer stems in their fermentations in 2010 than 2009. For one thing, 2009 was more in need of the impression of freshness that stems can bring than 2010. And for another, stems ripen more slowly than grapes, and since 2010 was a less ripe vintage there were underripe stems.
Widely regarded as a great vintage, easily the best since 2005. The reds are ripe and rich in style, and had big tannins on release (though hidden under plump fruit). Some Burgundy lovers do think the vintage is too ripe to be typical, and prefer the fresher style of the two adjacent vintages, arguing that in terms of body and build, 2009 feels like the sort of wine that may have come from a warmer region. Be that as it may, 2009 provided some fabulous cellar wines. After some hail in mid-May, the crucial flowering period took place over late May/early June in warm, dry conditions, setting the stage for a bountiful harvest down the line. June was sunny, July was stormy, August was hot, dry and sunny. After that, the weather was more unsettled, but fine conditions returned in time for harvest. Yields were generous and grapes hardly needed any sorting. A vintage of happy vignerons indeed. Picking dates were crucial for white wines, with grapes that were not picked early enough making wines that are heavy and too low in acidity; those producers that got their picking dates right made lovely whites that have stood the test of time (though survivors this far down the line should probably be broached).
A vintage defined by high acidity, which may have worked better for white than for reds, and which came about as a result of the challenges of a slow, cool, damp and sometimes difficult growing season. A spell of decently warm weather made an appearance in early May, then flowering took place through mid-June. July was warm but marked by a bad hailstorm on the Côte de Beaune, August was cool and damp. The weather finally improved in the second half of September. Windy conditions also helped to dry out the vineyards which had been suffering from fungal diseases. Most domaines began picking in the last week of September. At bottling, red wines were leading on acidity rather than fleshiness. Some have knit together in the cellar, others less so.
A very wet summer set the stage for a vintage with a poor reputation. Beautiful conditions in April led to early flowering. However, June, July and August were cool, damp and mostly grey, and by August there were serious problems with rot, and many bunches had to be discarded. Harvest was early as the early flowering had kick-started the season, with some fruit being picked at the end of August, but many growers chose to push back the start of harvest to allow flavour ripeness more time to develop in the grapes. From mid-September, the weather turned warm, dry and windy, much improving conditions in the vineyards, and those growers who had waited were able to bring in better fruit. Red wines were broadly for more early consumption, and in bottle started to show tertiary qualities faster than adjacent vintages. 2007 reds now show a very evolved style. White grapes benefitted from the cooler conditions in the vineyard, and white wines had lovely freshness and energy.
A mixed vintage not for the longest cellaring. A long winter of rain and snow dragged through into a wet, cold spring. The weather finally turned warm in June and flowering happened in excellent conditions. July was hot and dry, and problems with drought began to manifest; August was damp, and both downy mildew and powdery mildew began to cause problems. Harvest began in late September, but was disrupted by sporadic rains. Whites were warm and fleshy, but with low acidity, and survivors should be drunk up. The best reds are excellent and drinking well.
A great vintage. A cold winter was followed by a slow start to the growing season, happily without frost problems. April and May were wet, a good thing in the light of the preceding dry winter and the dry summer to come. June enjoyed a burst of heat, while July and August were very dry. With rainfall far below average, drought was an issue, especially impacting young vines (which have shallow root systems and can't access deep lying water reserves). There was a little rain at the start of September which returned some much needed to juice to the grapes. Harvest began in the middle of September. Harvest was stress-free under fair skies, giving vignerons the flexibility to choose their moment. The crop was small with thick-skinned grapes, which gave a concentrated juice. In bottle, the reds quickly closed down, and were clearly going to demand a long time. The best still have long cellar potential. The whites were also powerful, and showed great potential, but some have since been marred by issues of oxidation.
A generous vintage by volume, if not concentration. Attractive whites were mainly considered for early drinking. Reds often lacked concentration, and can come across as dilute and showing an herbaceous character. Summer was relatively cool and damp, which led to problems with powdery mildew. A warm, dry start to September brought the vintage home. Yields were relatively high this year, and high-yielding years can lead to wines that lack concentration. Not a vintage for long-term cellaring.
The year of the great summer heatwave. Spring started with a cold snap that caused frost damage to precocious Chardonnay buds on the Côte de Beaune, while red buds suffered from an infestation of caterpillars that fed on new shoots. April and May were cool and windy. It June it became record-breakingly hot. July was slightly relieved by a cool and wet spell before it flipped back to being very hot and dry. August became even hotter, with every day from August 4th to 13th topping 40 degrees. Harvests were rushed forwards into the second half of the month, causing all sorts of practical problems for unprepared growers, many of whom had to rush back from holiday. With acid levels in the grapes low and decreasing, picking seemed urgent. But despite high sugar levels, some grapes were otherwise unripe, partly because sugar ripening had accelerated past phenolic ripeness and also because some vines had simply shut down in the heat. A difficult year. Some reds managed to unappealingly combine burnt fruit with unripe, green tannins – but there are also bottles which have resolved attractively. Some winemakers deliberately leant into the big tannins the vintage favoured, and may have made bottles with a long potential cellar life. Whites were weighty and opulent, many overripe with low acidity and not for aging, but there may be a few survivors that if anything are resolving with time.
A lovely vintage on release, without the density to make a truly great year, 2002 made charming, characterful, terroir-driven wine. A cold winter gave way to a warm February that got the season off to an early start. There was no spring frost to damage tender buds. July and the first half of August were mostly hot and dry (quite unlike Bordeaux and much of the rest of France, where there were heavy rains) and the scene looked set for a great year. In the second half of August and the first half of September the weather turned cool and intermittently wet. The first signs of rot were sorted out by timely winds that helped dry the vineyards out. Top-level reds have aged beautifully and are a pleasure to drink now. White wines were lovely on release, and looked set to age well. Unfortunately, in retrospect, 2002 turned out to be one of the worst-affected vintages for premox (premature oxidation) and 2002 whites at this stage are quite a lottery.
An erratic year with very mixed results. Winter was mild and wet. Spring was slow to get going, but frost was not a problem. A hot spell at the end of May brought flowering forward, but then the weather turned cool again; this stop-start weather led to very uneven ripening. July was wet. In August Volnay was devastated by a hailstorm, with significant damage also in neighbouring Meursault. The rest of the month was hot and sunny. By the time harvest came around, sorting tables were essential to remove a combination of rotten grapes, scorched grapes, and unripe grapes from the very drawn-out flowering. Not a great vintage overall for either red or white. The best reds may still have potential but most wines should be drunk up.
The growing season started well, with a potentially large crop and no significant losses to spring frost. However, summer was very wet in the Côte de Beaune and the Chalonnaise, and rot became a problem. There were better conditions in the Cote de Nuits and Chablis. Harvest began around mid-September in hot, humid weather. This was a forward vintage for reds, most of which should have been drunk by now, particularly those from the Côte de Beaune. Thicker skinned Chardonnay was less troubled by rot and it was an excellent white vintage. Chablis was very favoured this vintage, and the best crus may have been worth keeping this long.
