2018 Burgundy tasting 16/01/20 12-6.30pm

The November week of tasting the 2018 Burgundies was an extraordinary one. As usual all preconceptions went out of the window pretty quickly. Looking back at the extremely warm year one might have expected to find whites resembling the 2015s - some teetering on the edge of ripeness; others showing sur-maturité and a lack of acidity. As it was, generally we found whites which were exciting and with density, amazing energy and vivid flavours as well as vibrant acidity. The Pinots were more mixed. They had thick skins and have produced more stuctured wines - particularly noticeable in those Chambolles made by producers from outside the village. Though we didn`t encounter it much in our producers there are some wines not completely phenolically ripe. But generally these are very long-lived wines with considerable complexity and not much of the confit or even dried fruit you find in some 2003s. As ever it`s going to be a fascinating tasting, benefitting from being an additional week after Christmas compared to most previous years. /CW