The Vinum Team last week with Jean-Michel Chartron at his Monopole “Clos des Chevaliers” Grand Cru.
Three and a half days of tasting, 19 domaines, 200ish wines: all to remind me how little I know!
Friend [DOUBTFUL TONE]: Do you reckon they’ll be as good as 2017?
Me [UNSURE TONE]: I’ll be a happy man if they are!
I had the above exchange with a friend before leaving for Burgundy cautiously optimistic for a mixed vintage, probably favouring whites (OK, that is a bit 2017-esque), of quality ranging from the modest to a few peaks of real interest.
Fast forward a few days, and several dozen wines, not only am I increasingly enthusiastic about 2023 Burgundy but I am hearing a domaine whose opinion I respect very much making comparisons to 2010 and 2016 reds – two of the greatest of the last 25 years in my opinion.
Musigny 2023 Domaine Comte de Vogue
From the first sniff, this has greater depth, intensity and impact than the younger vine cuvee. A more dark-toned profile but still lithe and vivid. Much more layered but the structure is upholstered with silk and satin. Great textural complexity and finesse. Brilliant, brilliant wine.
97-99pts
Puligny Montrachet Clos du Cailleret 2023 Jean Chartron
Totally different from Clos de la Pucelle this year. Has the fat and texture of a top Grand Cru but, at the same time, is mineral and glassy. Extraordinary stuff in 2023. Has depth, richness and cut. Layered orchard fruit, flowers and a building drive of spice. Mineral. Wow!
95-98pts
Jean Lupatelli, Comte Georges de Vogüe.
I simply did not travel to Burgundy expecting to find wines of such quality, I never expected to write such positive notes, and I certainly did not anticipate awarding such big scores. Colour me surprised, and not a little bit thrilled!
Of course, I have selected two very prestigious wines to make my point and headline this report, but the fact is that these are not isolated peaks cynically selected to show 2023 to its best advantage.
I am looking forward to buying a couple of cases of bargain basement Bourgogne Pinot Noir from Virgile Lignier-Michelot (sourced from Chambolle and Morey and 89-92pts from me), for my ‘everyday PLUS’ drinking, and consider Johannes Violot-Guillemard to have knocked the ball from the park once again with a stunning range of Pommards. Rossignol-Trapet have made the best young Clos Prieur I have ever tasted from this Gevrey 1er Cru and Sylvie Poillot’s Bonnes Mares is something to behold at Domaine de la Vougeraie.
Sylvie Poillot, Domaine de la Vougeraie.
In white, the Rully 1er Clos St Jacques 2023 from Domaine de la Folly is something I would drink with glee most days of the week. Dubreuil-Fontaine’s Corton Charlemagne is a cool and chiselled Grand Cru that will sell for a price to embarrass village wines from many self-important domaines. In Meursault, Henri Gaunoux continues to take strides forward in quality, from his Bourgogne Cote d’Or up to the Meursault Perrieres at Jean-Michel Gaunoux.
Clemence Dubrulle, Domaine de la Folie.
In the midst of tasting – dashing up and down the Cote to appointments, juggling glasses and laptops balanced on the top of barrels, and chatting with producers – it is easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees. It was quite a statement when Louis Fourrier, Jean-Marie’s son, told us that he believes the quality of 2023 Burgundy means that people will debate 2022/23 in the same way that they discuss 2009/10 and 2015/16.
Louis Fourrier’s comment gives context to how some growers view 2023: 2022/23 are a pair of similarly excellent quality years; as with 2009/10 and 2015/16, the earlier of the pair expresses the richness and generosity of a solar vintage whilst the latter demonstrates greater precision, transparency and vineyard detail.
Of course, this is a big call given that 2023 had not exactly got the pulse racing before I boarded my flight to France. However, it is worth bearing in mind that Domaine Fourrier is hardly struggling for sales, so I am less inclined to dismiss Louis’ claim as pure salesmanship than if I was with a large scale negociant.
Up-grading my early opinion
Back in September I made some early tastings of 2023 and sent a report that was cautiously optimistic about selected reds, and made a case for the whites being generally more successful. So, what has happened, what did I miss, to result in such a radical up-grade?
What did I learn in the 200-odd wines tasted last week that showed me, yet again, how little it is that I know about Burgundy?
Lisha at Violot-Guillemard.
Big can be beautiful
My early impressions of 2023 were dominated by the size of the crop. It was striking to me that 1er Cru sites in the Cote de Nuits could have delivered in excess of 100 hectolitres-per-hectare, had they been allowed to do so. Mark Fincham’s comment, at Tawse-Marchand, that he had produced more than 50% more than in any previous vintage also stuck in my mind.
In terms of the red wines, I appreciated the subtlety and nuance of what I experienced at Tawse but was anticipating a generally lighter vintage with some issues of dilution and over-cropping; the best using their delicacy to accent minerality and terroir expression.
Last week, I quickly learned of another facet of 2023, crucial to the wines’ emerging personalities. A late season spike of heat served to dry, concentrate and bring the Pinot Noir to ripeness in the final days before harvest. During this period, potential alcohol levels rose very rapidly; meaning growers expecting levels around 12%, and needing to chaptalize, had no trouble achieving 13-13.5% naturally.
As a result, ripeness – whether of sugar or tannin – was not an issue this year. Producers should have been aware of the potential for a huge crop from the early days of the season. Assuming they had anticipated this and controlled yields, through green harvests, high grade fruit should have been brought into the winery.
Harvest at Domaine Dujac by Pops Tawen.
The early view that whites might stand above the reds in 2023 was justified because Chardonnay performs better than Pinot Noir at higher yields. This is held out by vintages like 1982, which produced a large crop of beautiful white Burgundy.
The vintage report from Dubreuil-Fontaine describes harvesting Chardonnay in temperatures of 30-34c. Harvest temperatures will impact the fruit being picked but, as Chardonnay is picked before Pinot Noir, this shows that many of the white grapes were in before or during the heat wave described above, whilst reds were still ripening on the vines. However, Clementine’s report also describes a warm spring followed by a hot summer with limited rainfall, leading to a large crop of ripe Chardonnay.
Jean-Michel Chartron, spoke about his biggest challenges in 2023 being capturing freshness and controlling pH levels, further emphasising the ripeness of the crop. This supports the Dubreuil-Fontaine report of a warm season delivering generously ripe fruit. All I can say is that Chartron has done his job well as we had a phenomenal tasting!
A number of growers were making comparisons between their 2023 whites and the 2017 vintage – a strong year for white Burgundy. The more I look into the conditions that shaped 2023, the more this parallel makes sense. If anything, the 2017s have quite a honeyed aspect and some tend towards fatness on the mid-palate; 2023 certainly has the potential to turn out better.
On this basis, it is better to buy by producer than geography, however…
A domaine’s success, or otherwise, in 2023 is largely governed by how they managed the season. Was a red wine grower able and prepared to drop enough fruit, through green harvests, to control their yields and manage the vine’s energy? How successful was a Chardonnay producer in maintaining a low pH, to make a wine with racy acidity, minerality and cut?
Producer has long been the guiding factor in selecting Burgundy. Today, I think that is more true than ever, and even more so in a heterogenous vintage like 2023.
These are familiar questions but I’m afraid I don’t have a simple answer!
Domaine Borgeot
Cote de Beaune, Cote de Nuits? Which villages stood out?
As a group we noticed several stunning examples of Bonnes Mares in 2023. A difficult vineyard to understand, it hovers between Chambolle Musigny and Morey Saint Denis and the wines often need many years before they become expressive. For these reasons, Bonnes Mares is often passed over, or even lumped in with Clos Vougeot as a sort of second tier Grand Cru whose wines are a bit too burly, chunky and powerful to merit serious attention.
Whilst two of us tasted a sweet, spicy and mineral Bonnes Mares at Domaine Dujac, the rest of our group were with Caroline at Domaine Drouhin-Laroze; they returned enthusing over the stand-out quality of her Bonnes Mares. The next day, we had a superb tasting at Domaine de la Vougeraie where Sylvie’s Bonnes Mares – all whole cluster spice, white flowers and savoury minerality – had the temerity to out-perform the Musigny. After Vougeraie we shot up the road to Chambolle and tasted yet another excellent Bonnes Mares with Dominique Le Guen at Domaine Hudelot Baillet.
Caroline Drouhin-Laroze.
Bonnes Mares 2023 Domaine Hudelot-Baillet
Pulls off that Grand Cru trick of having volume and, significant, structure but then a beautifully powdery, sweet and spicy fruit element. Despite its girth and richness, there is a surprising volume of red fruit on the mid-palate. Spicy, mineral and saline towards the finish. Uncompromisingly mineral on the back.
95-97pts
My very final visit of the week, and my wine of the week, was at Domaine Comte de Vogue. Winemaker – and shortly to be general manager as he takes on vineyard responsibility from the retiring Eric Bourgogne – now shows Bonnes Mares as the second wine in the line-up, a brief foray into a clay-based terroir before focusing on the limestone of Amoureuses and Musigny. Whilst the Vogue Bonnes Mare was a couple of steps behind the ethereal and bewitching Musigny, it was nonetheless an aristocratic wine of great stature and length.
Our conclusion is that Bonnes Mares seems to be something of a sweet spot in 2023 and is well worth your attention.
Returning to the mantra of Producer First, it is easy to recommend the famous names – such as Fourrier and Dujac – and hard to go wrong, assuming you can snag an allocation. Beyond those hallowed domaines, the whole bunch-accented style of Domaine Violot-Guillemard is thoroughly compelling and I cannot recommend them highly enough. In particular, we tasted two samples of Pommard 1er Cru Rugiens: one taken from a conventional barrel and one matured in a ceramic egg. I loved the precision and aromatic floral tones of the sample from ceramic; blended together, this is going to be a stunner.
Joannès Violot-Guillemard.
Switching to the Cote de Nuits, our second ever visit to Virgile Lignier-Michelot was a roaring success. Like Joannes, at Violot-Guillemard, Virgile is an advocate of whole bunch fermentation, producing wines driven by spice, florals and crunchy tannin structures. After a masterclass in Morey 1er Cru sites, our tasting culminated in some very impressive Grand Crus, including Clos de la Roche and Clos St Denis. In addition, I have already mentioned how impressed I was by his Bourgogne Pinot Noir. Lignier-Michelot’s Morey Saint Denis En la Rue de Vergy, from 50 year old vines planted above the Clos de Tart, is from one of the finest village crus in the Cote de Nuits.
Virgile Lignier-Michelot.
In white wine I found myself particularly drawn to wines from cooler or more mineral sites. Puligny Caillerets, Meursault Perrieres, Chevalier Montrachet and Saint Aubin Dents de Chien all seemed to shine.
Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrieres 2023 Domaine Jean-Michel Gaunoux
A twist of reduction on the nose. The oak has left an imprint on the palate, for now, but there is superb acidity and a clear Perrieres thrust of minerality throughout. Chalky and tensile. There is a salty quality on the back of the mid-palate that brings additional twang and energy. Very long.
93-96pts
Jean-Michel Gaunoux
I am sure it is psychosomatic, but perhaps the limestone-rich terroir helped keep pH values low, emphasising acidity and minerality. With this in mind, Dujac’s Monts Luisants – always a low pH wine from a site based on limestone – was superb, with Jeremy Seysses drawing comparisons to Clos Ste Hune Riesling.
In the era of global warming, villages and sites at the margins of Burgundy, which would have struggled for ripeness historically, are now well worth investigating. At the same time, in our era of spiralling prices, wines from these more marginal sites often provide a level of value we had all thought had departed the Cote d’Or.
This continues in 2023, and I would draw your attention to both reds and whites from:
Simon Follin-Arbelet by Pops Tawen.
For those with more of a focus on red Burgundy, Maranges in the south and Fixin and Marsannay in the far north, are increasingly interesting. We tasted a very pretty Maranges rouge with Xavier Monnot, and frequently offer the excellent wines of Bachelet-Monnot (in both colours). Domaine Drouhin-Laroze and Lignier-Michelot both produce very good examples of Fixin and, whilst we did not visit on this trip, Domaine Rene Bouvier have a range of Marsannay and I am sure we will feature these in the new year.
The wines I tasted in Burgundy last week confounded my expectations of 2023 in a very similar way to that in which Bordeaux 2023 turned my preconceptions on their head back in April. I went expecting, at best, a modest vintage with a few stand-outs; I returned having tasted several wines to rival absolutely top-tier examples.
Burgundy lovers likely have cellars groaning under the weight of outstanding wines from 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016 and so on. A few brave souls may even have some 2021s – which are turning out to be lovely, by the way! It is a challenge to communicate reasons why you should now clear space for 2023, and the financial pressure of devastating crop losses in 2024 – up to 90% losses for Thibault Liger-Belair and Domaine de la Vougeraie, for example – may muddy the waters further.
If there is one takeaway from this report, let it be Louis Fourrier’s contention that 2022/23 will be a re-boot of 2015/16 and 2009/10.
If 2023 reds have something of 2016 and 2010 about them, and if the best 2023 whites shade the quality of the 2017s, then there are compelling reasons to pay attention to the January releases and find some room in the cellar.
The Vinum Team in front of the Romanée Conti.
