Burgfest 2022 Red Burgundy Report: A Great Côte d’Or Vintage

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07/10/2026

On 02/10/2026

Having pulled corks on nearly 300 reds from 2022, my conclusion from this year’s edition of the world’s best Burgundy tasting is that the vintage counts amongst the greatest of our times for Cote d’Or Pinot Noir. My personal definition of a great vintage encompasses outstanding peaks of quality at the very pinnacle of production but also demands a high average bar of quality. This is precisely what 2022 delivers, with outperformers amongst the mid-tiers as well as astonishing examples of the region’s elite wines.

Key takeaways

Verdict: 2022 counts among the greatest Côte d’Or Pinot Noir vintages of our times, with outstanding peaks and a high average level of quality.
In numbers: 83% of nearly 300 wines tasted scored 90/100 or above (against about 66% for 2021), and 9% scored 97/100 or higher.
Top wines: 100/100 for Musigny, Domaine de la Vougeraie, and Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Domaine Hudelot-Noellat, doubling Matthew’s lifetime total of perfect scores for red Burgundy.
Style: fresher than the hot year suggests, with red fruit and floral notes, likely thanks to cooler nights.

What a Difference a Year Makes – quality in numbers

Say what you like about scores, they remain a useful way of nailing your colours to the mast and crystallising a quality assessment. After last year’s Burgfest, I crunched some numbers for my report on the 2021 reds.

It’s worth remembering that, despite meeting some indifference on release, 2021 has gained in people’s affections and become a favoured year amongst many drinkers. During that tasting my scores topped out at 98/100, awarded to three wines, with a further seven rated 97/100. In total, I scored about 4% of the 2021s at 97/100 or higher. About 66% of the 2021s received 90/100 or more.

At the 2022 tasting, I rated fully 83% of wines 90/100 or above and 9% got at least 97/100. Whilst I had three 98/100 at the top of my 2021 scores, I had twice that in the 2022 vintage, followed by a further four at 99/100 and a pair with perfect 100/100 scores.

This is what I mean by having both outstanding peaks and a high average quality: 2022 not only delivered some three-digit scores, I found more than 80% of wines worth at least 90/100.

Before this Burgfest, I had only once given 100/100 to a red Burgundy: Musigny Grand Cru 2016 – Domaine J-F Mugnier. 2016 is amongst my favourite red wine years but I do not believe it is great because it is too inconsistent. 2022 is consistently excellent and I do not think it is a coincidence that I doubled my previous number of perfect scores during this tasting.

Styling It Out – what to expect from 2022 reds

Many of us remember 2022 in Europe and the vintage’s solar reputation is justified. In the Cote d’Or it was the second warmest year since 1947, coming just after 2003. A succession of heat waves took temperatures in excess of 40°C and vineyards saw 275 more sunlight hours than the annual average.

Against this backdrop, but anticipating some very successful wines, my expectations of 2022 were along the lines of “Excellent wines that are balanced despite their weight and richness.” What I was delighted to find was more consistent with, “Excellent wines” without any need of qualifications or excuses. I even went in expecting to find alcohol, and wines that were tiring to taste, but there was rarely any heat on the palate and the 2022s were far more exhilarating than fatiguing.

In terms of fruit profile, I was ready for dark berry and even black fruit but was surprised to find the majority of wines remained at the red end of the spectrum. Many had a juicy, sappy, lip-smacking quality that spoke of freshness elevated above expectation. These wines had real poise and dance to them. There was no shortage of floral tones and, whilst the trend for reduction as a source of spice in red Burgundy seems to have decelerated, the enthusiasm for whole clusters to boost both fragrance and structure continues.

Growing seasons cannot be broken into a series of conveniently independent events, they are more like ecosystems within which everything is interdependent. However, I think we are safe to say that key to the surprising freshness and verve of 2022 were cooler nighttime temperatures. The heat of 2003 – and, indeed, 2026 – felt so fierce because there was little relief after dark. Conversely, during 2022 the mercury did drop overnight. At the same time, whilst the vine leaves did close their stomata in response to extreme heat in 2022, we did not find ungainly and leathery tannins resulting from blocked photosynthesis. My suggestion is that those same cool nights played a role here too. It is a guess but perhaps regular photosynthesis was able to resume at either end of the day as temperatures cooled in the evenings and warmed in the mornings?

The Elephant in the Room

Too many potentially brilliant 2022s were marred by the spoilage yeast Brettanomyces. In a year where so many wines deliver jewel-bright and crystalline fruit, those where it is obscured behind a fault tend to stick out like a pig in a python. Or an elephant in a…room, I guess.

Some tasters decline to mark wines tainted by brett. My position is that I won’t score a corked wine, or a bottle I feel is randomly oxidised due to cork failure – rather than premature oxidation – but that brett is a winemaking issue so the wine gets a score. During our 2022 tasting, I made observations consistent with brett characters on 28 occasions. That is broadly 10% of the samples, which is a shocking total. I am far from an infallible technical taster, and am fully prepared to admit that some of these wines may have been showing complex reduction characters that will diminish with air and time. But, even if I was correct half the time, that feels an unacceptable incidence of an avoidable winery fault.

Brett was not uncommon in the Burgundy of the past and was often linked to poor cellar hygiene and discipline. Some drinkers actively enjoyed the reassuringly old school aromas of worn leather and roasted coffee; others confused the barnyard aromas with terroir characters.

With the advent of modern cellar practices, often funded by the high prices now commanded by these wines, was it too much to hope that brett had been consigned to the dustbin of history? Unfortunately, recent Burgfest tastings have witnessed a disturbing uptick of brett in modern vintages.

The spoilage yeast thrives in low acid, high pH and high sugar environments. These closely mirror the conditions created in wines from the solar vintages of our new climate era. Additionally, the current trend for whole bunch fermentation of red Burgundy increases wines’ pH even further, as the clusters boost potassium levels. To add to a perfect storm, producers seeking to reduce, or even eliminate, their use of sulphur dioxide will leave their wine even more vulnerable to brett without SO2’s antibacterial protection.

The issue of brett should not detract from the headline that 2022 is an outstanding red Burgundy vintage. There is a minority of wines I would avoid, and these can easily be identified by reading my notes and checking the scores. References to leather, sweat or animal aromas are inevitably sign-posting brett and I almost always name the fault – even with a question mark if it is mild – in my tasting notes. I expect to see further commentary on this from the professional critics who attend Burgfest. Hopefully, via impartial feedback from a blind tasting, we can exert pressure on the growers to address and remedy the issue.

The 2022 Hit Parade – my personal stars of 2022

Musigny Grand Cru – Domaine de la Vougeraie

Amazingly beautiful perfume with such finely-detailed stem work. Exceptional, absolutely perfectly pure and poised red fruit. This is shot through with such acidity and spice. It takes risks and walks a tight rope: there’s such massive whole cluster influence and quite a whack of VA, but this is what it’s all about when it strikes such harmonious balance. SENSATIONAL.

100/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Romanee St Vivant Grand Cru – Domaine Hudelot-Noellat

One of those wines that just engages the afterburners and effortlessly powers ahead, leaving everything else for dust. Layer upon layer of sweetness, berry fruit, scent and intensity continues to unfurl and crescendo through the palate. It’s a wine that soars and yet also retains a laser focus. Huge reserves of spice and beautifully feathered tannins, supported by a spine that is almost savagely mineral and diamond-cut. This isn’t nigh-on perfect, it nails it!

100/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Shop 2022 Hudelot-Noellat Romanée-Saint-Vivant →

99/100 Rated Wines

Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru – Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue
Richebourg Grand Cru – Domaine Jean Grivot
Richebourg Grand Cru – Domaine Anne-Françoise Gros
Richebourg Grand Cru – Thibault Liger-Belair

98/100 Rated Wines

Bonnes Mares Grand Cru – Domaine Bruno Clair
Chambertin Grand Cru – Domaine Henri Rebourseau
Chambertin Grand Cru – Domaine Rossignol-Trapet
Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru – Domaine Armand Rousseau
Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses – Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue
Clos St Denis Grand Cru – Domaine Dujac

It is slightly predictable – and maybe boring – that my top 12 is occupied by such familiar and elite names. However, look beyond the fact that three Richebourg got 99/100 and the results start to become more interesting. Thibault Liger-Belair’s relatively modestly-priced example sits alongside significantly more expensive wines from Vogue and Grivot. Furthermore, neither of the 100/100 wines sit at the very peak of Burgundy’s pricing pyramid and, when you consider Burgfest included both Comte Liger-Belair’s La Romanee and Rousseau’s Chambertin, it becomes apparent that my top 12 does not exactly correspond to the pricing hierarchy of the wines we tasted.

I was delighted to see the Chambertin from Rossignol-Trapet come out so well. Not only does it share podium space with Rousseau’s Beze and Dujac’s Clos St Denis, it has come out ahead of Rousseau’s Chambertin.

These examples start to illustrate the way in which 2022’s quality is not restricted to the highest echelons but spread throughout the hierarchy. It can certainly be argued that Musigny is at the very pinnacle of the Cote d’Or, but it remains notable that Domaine de la Vougeraie out-scored both Vogue and Mugnier. Similarly, the Bonnes Mares from Bruno Clair won a higher rating than that of Domaine Georges Roumier.

More broadly, we saw quality distributed up and down the hierarchy of crus and, geographically, up and down the Cote d’Or.

Beaune

Beginning at 0830h sharp on Monday morning, Burgfest always gets underway with Beaune 1er Cru. I feel that this is a consistently underappreciated appellation. Perhaps the dominance of the large negociant houses acts as a turn-off to collectors who mistakenly always prioritise domaine bottlings? Either way, the hillside above the town can yield some seriously delicious, and age-worthy, wines.

Despite my defence of Beaune 1er Cru, these flights can inevitably find themselves viewed as a warm up act for what’s to come. On this basis, I was encouraged that Beaune showed so well in 2022. Across the full panel of tasters, we had our highest ever average scores for Beaune and I had more ratings beginning with a 9 than an 8 – which is far from regularly the case.

I diverged from my colleagues in not putting Domaine de Montille’s Beaune 1er Cru Greves in pole position. For my palate, the use of stems had given this wine a hard, even slightly raw, texture. I found Joannes Violot-Guillemard’s use of whole clusters, in his Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches (92/100), far more integrated and harmonious. My top score, however, went to a wine I have consistently admired over many vintages – a recent magnum of 1988 showed how beautifully this can age and how grand it can become:

Beaune 1er Cru Greves ‘Les Vignes de l’Enfant Jesu’ – Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils

Aromas characterised by quite a sweet and noble reduction. Has a clear stem character that’s subtle on the nose but then brings freshness and zip to the palate. Perfumed, spicy and with floral accents. There’s a sense of poise and delicacy.

93/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Volnay

My note for the first wine of Volnay begins: Even if not at the very highest level, this is like an archetype of Volnay: floral, perfumed, elegant and svelte. It turned out to be Volnay 1er Cru Les Angles from Domaine Louis Boillot and I rated it 92/100.

After several years writing about Volnay’s struggle to retain its classical style in the era of climate change, it was a huge relief to taste such classicism. And this was not an isolated example, across four flights and 26 wines, I found numerous slender and fine-boned Volnays that renewed my faith that the style has not been lost.

As with Beaune, our average scores for Volnay were the highest we have ever recorded.

Whilst the group gave top spot to Volnay 1er Cru Santenots de Milieu from Domaine des Comtes Lafon, I was more attracted to another wine – albeit one perhaps living dangerously.

Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds – Domaine Clos de la Chapelle

Gorgeous perfume. Recedes into itself as it sits in the glass but the palate is sensational, with a huge reach of spice that goes right to the back of the palate. Is there a whisper of brett? Given the freshness and lifted acidity I find that hard to believe. The fruit persists. Has a juicy quality that floods the palate with sap. Multi-faceted and properly complex. Chalky, mineral finish.

95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

This was one of those wines that had a suggestion of something a touch wild or leathery that had me question whether there was an element of brett. On this occasion, I did not feel it obscured the fruit or blunted the finish and so I decided it was more likely a reduction character. It seemed to diminish in the glass – brett does not go away – so I was not discouraged from giving the high score I felt it deserved.

Pommard

Pommard’s resurgence continues. The wines are taking strides ahead each year and it must only be a matter of time before the market catches on. The days of rustic, clod-hopping wines with dry tannins are behind us and a generation of younger growers is forging a new future for Pommard.

There is a wealth of talent in Pommard today. In addition to the top-scoring wines, we had fabulous examples from Domaines Georges Glantenay, Joannes Violot-Guillemard and Launay-Horiot. It is remarkable that the group’s average score for Pommard was in excess of the averages for Corton, Nuits Saint Georges, Clos Vougeot and Chambolle Musigny (below the level of Grand Cru and Amoureuses).

The group’s highest-scoring wine – Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens from Pierre Girardin – had an average above anything from the Grand Cru of Corton!

My score for the Girardin Rugiens was 94/100 but it was just pipped to the top by the following wine:

Pommard 1er Cru Les Pezerolles – Domaine Anne-Françoise Gros

For me this hits the absolute sweet spot of whole clusters, contemporary winemaking, and – ultimately – quality. Judged like a hole in one. Fruit, minerality, spice and florals all combine. It’s cool, limber, fresh and scented. Magnificent.

95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Corton

From 19 examples of Corton my highest score was a middling 93/100 – on the low side of the group average. On the plus side, 2022 delivered the highest ever group average score but I still found too many of the wines top-heavy and verging on clumsy.

Wrapped around the hilltop, Corton Grand Cru encompasses a diverse range of exposures and soil types. This heterogeneity is addressed with climat designations such as Bressandes and Clos du Roi but this still adds up to a Grand Cru without a clear and definable personality. This is not a qualitative criticism in and of itself, although it would be easier to judge Corton if there was a clear model of typicity against which to compare it. What I find more problematic are the levels of concentration, alcohol, structure and mass delivered by these exposed hilltop vineyards.

It may be that these wines simply need a lot of time, or that I do not properly understand what I am tasting, but I do not believe that the growers have found a way to navigate the challenges of climate change. Consequently, I rarely find Corton delivering the grace and finesse of top-class red Burgundy, nor the nuance or calibre of a great Grand Cru.

My favourite wine came from Faiveley, but you still see reservations and references to alcohol in my note.

Corton Grand Cru Clos des Cortons-Faiveley – Domaine Faiveley

Has a huge volume of red and black fruit. It’s fresh, succulent and floods the palate with ripeness. There’s a mineral, grainy texture to the tannin and this is one of the few Cortons in this flight to show some degree of structural finesse and chiselling. Large-framed but successfully so and also holds the alcohol well.

93/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Nuits Saint Georges

A bit like Corton, Nuits Saint Georges is not homogenous in style but has at least three distinct subzones:

Vineyards around Premeaux, at the southern end of the appellation.
The heartland of Nuits Saint Georges, just south of the town, where vineyards such as Pruliers, Cailles, Vaucrains and Les St Georges are located.
The area to the north of Nuits, towards the boundary with Vosne Romanee, which tends to exhibit more of a Vosne character; Les Murgers, for example.

Unlike Corton, and with a closer parallel to Pommard, Nuits Saint Georges has consistently been amongst the beneficiaries of climate change. The changing climate has led to riper wines and, in combination with more quality-conscious growers, finer and more polished tannins. In another parallel with Pommard, some of Nuits’ reputation for rustic wines has fallen away and the village is now a fertile hunting ground for both quality and value.

In an immediate validation of the above, the flight from around Premeaux delivered an unlooked-for level of pleasure and charm in 2022. Historically these would have been the most rustic wines of Nuits but, outside of a slightly bretty Clos de la Marechale, the wines were expressive, floral and red-toned in their fruit. My favourites both got 93/100 (the same as my highest score in Corton): a taut and mineral Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Clos St Marc from Domaine Michele et Patrice Rion and a sophisticated and elegant Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Clos de l’Arlot from Domaine de l’Arlot.

Getting into the classic big guns of Nuits, we found more of the volume, savoury power and muscle often associated with the appellation. What I was looking for was these qualities in combination with 2022’s vivid fruit, plus a sense of energy, nuance and finesse. Whilst this was not quite the vintage in which Les St Georges made a compelling case for Grand Cru status, we were rewarded and I found a number of 94/100 wines from the likes of Domaines Robert Chevillon and Henri Gouges. My favourite example coincided with the group’s favourite from this flight, and was my most highly-rated Nuits Saint Georges:

Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles – Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils

Clean and pure red fruit. This is all about a blast of fruit – unimpaired by winemaking. Has seen quite smart oak but the wood frames and supports the fruit that’s taking centre stage. Whole clusters accent the fruit. The lack of makeup is compelling. Gains in amplitude in the mouth.

95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Moving to the north of Nuits it is always a question whether the wines taste more Vosne-esque because of proximity to the border or because of the Vosne Romanee domaines that own vines in the area. 2022 certainly showed a palpable step up in terms of both textural elegance and aromatic fireworks. My highlights included a beautifully scented and fine-spun 1er Cru Boudots from Domaine Meo-Camuzet and a 1er Cru Aux Cras from Comte Liger-Belair, in the distinctively exuberant and flamboyantly aromatic style that is his signature.

It is noteworthy that, whilst I saw higher peaks within the wines from the Nuits heartland, quality was more consistently high in the north of the appellation. This may be due to the quality of growers but it is also true that a Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru from the likes of Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg carries less of a premium than the equivalent from Vosne or Chambolle. These wines may therefore offer value propositions to canny buyers.

Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Aux Chaignots from Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg won the highest average score for any Nuits wine from the group. It is a gorgeous wine, with a particularly luxurious texture, and stood out as stylistically distinct in its flight. I gave this 92/100, and enjoyed it very much, but resisted raising my score as I questioned whether it was a qualitatively better wine than its peers, or whether it stood out because it was stylistically different.

Clos Vougeot

On reflection, our three flights of Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, across 18 wines, showed 2022 really beginning to flex and show its class. My long-standing opinion has been that a combination of climate change and advances in viticulture have led to big improvements in this cru, but 2022 delivered both some of the finest young examples I have tasted and impressively consistent quality.

Two elements that seem to be key are the purity of fruit that growers are now achieving and the taming of Clos Vougeot’s sometimes fierce and angular tannins. Tannins are regularly finer and more polished, especially in 2022, and there appears to be a more sophisticated approach to using whole bunch fermentation in this vineyard. Some producers, who regularly use whole clusters, de-stem their Clos Vougeot fruit as they feel the fruit tannins from this site need no additional heft. Others are adjusting their proportion of stems to match what nature delivers. The successful wines, whether or not they are produced with stems, have structures that frame their fruit rather than sitting on top of it. 2022 produced plenty of these.

The Burgfest panel’s highest average score was awarded to the example from Thibault Liger-Belair, a wine of intense fruit and dynamic energy. It is interesting to observe that this average was obtained, not by a small number of high scores pushing it upwards, but via tightly-bunched, consistent ratings.

High points in my scores came from Domaines Berthaut-Gerbet, Comte Liger-Belair and Vougeraie – Sylvie Poillot’s team had a great 2022 vintage! My highest score went to Joseph Drouhin: a producer I know for consistent excellence but I was still surprised, and pleased, to see take top honours in such company.

Clos Vougeot Grand Cru – Joseph Drouhin

A naturally flowing profile of red fruit and spices, sitting atop a fine weave of whole cluster spice and tannin. Has scented, floral qualities and plenty of drive and energy. Long, lingering finish of real harmony.

95/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Gevrey Chambertin

One of the defining weather events of 2022 was a massive June storm, centred on Gevrey Chambertin. The deluge was such that it exceeded the capacity of the local weather station to measure the actual rainfall. Topsoil was washed away and Domaine Armand Rousseau hired three diggers to return 200 tonnes back to the top of the vineyard slope.

The storm, however, did not seem to have dimmed 2022’s light amongst the crus of Gevrey.

Our flight of all five 1er Cru Clos St Jacques is regularly a highlight of the entire Burgfest tasting, and the 2022s got the group’s highest average score of any Gevrey 1er Cru. Given the calibre of both producers and vineyard, this is not entirely surprising. My own scores were:

Bruno Clair – 94/100
Sylvie Esmonin – 93/100
Fourrier – 95/100
Louis Jadot – 93/100
Armand Rousseau – 95/100

95/100 remains a big score but I was amongst the less enthusiastic about Clos St Jacques 2022. It simply didn’t feel like a vintage in which the vineyard is really challenging for Grand Cru status.

Amongst other vineyards, I found plenty to rival the best of Clos St Jacques. Other 1er Crus I rated 95/100 include Cazetiers from both Rousseau and Faiveley, the Lavaux St Jacques from Domaine Tawse, Combottes from Domaine Arlaud, and a stunning Fonteny from Domaine Henri Rebourseau – now under the same ownership as Chateau Montrose and definitely a name to watch.

I gave a brilliant Champeaux from Tawse 96/100, putting it ahead of anything from Clos St Jacques, but Domaine Dujac’s Aux Combottes stole the show with a wine of Grand Cru quality and my highest score of Burgfest so far:

Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes – Domaine Dujac

Far from the most demonstrative, this instead delivers a quiet but insistent build of spice and energy that begins slowly but really starts to drill through the palate. Crescendos. The fruit is red and the profile starts subtle but really builds.

97/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Amongst Gevrey’s Grand Crus, order can be said to have been maintained as Chambertin and Clos de Beze provided resounding performances that confirmed their status as the finest vineyards. Whilst there was very little between the two, Chambertin can be said to have come first by a nose, in a photo finish.

Elsewhere, Charmes Chambertin clearly did not get the memo about the status quo as I felt it significantly over-delivered. I found higher quality, and more pleasure, from several examples of Charmes – and Mazoyeres – than I did from the preceding flight of Clos St Jacques. Mazoyeres Chambertin from Domaine Tawse and Charmes Chambertin ‘Aux Charmes’ from Thibault Liger-Belair both stood out, and I rated both 96/100.

Prior to reaching Clos de Beze and Chambertin, the highpoint for me was a magnificent Ruchottes Chambertin from Christophe Roumier (97/100) that was vivid in its spice, fruit and mineral drive.

You may already have noticed from my list of top-scoring wines that I had a trio of 98/100s amongst the top Gevrey Grand Crus: Chambertin Clos de Beze from Rousseau and Chambertins from Henri Rebourseau and Rossignol-Trapet. Rebourseau’s 2022s were consistently impressive this Burgfest. Leading up to the Chambertin, I rated both their Mazis Chambertin and Clos de Beze at 96/100. This is clearly a domaine to start taking very seriously.

Chambertin Grand Cru – Domaine Henri Rebourseau

Beautifully feathered whole bunch aromas. Complex and fine. Red fruit, perfume, musk and whole clusters. Elegant and fine-boned on the palate. Superbly melded and shaped.

98/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Chambolle Musigny

Taken as a whole, Chambolle provided a thrilling selection of 2022s, beginning with a convincingly classical flight of 1er Cru Les Charmes and culminating in my perfect 100/100 for Domaine de la Vougeraie’s Musigny Grand Cru, by way of some outstanding Bonnes Mares.

At some Burgfests I have felt that Chambolle is in a similar position to Volnay; struggling to achieve its classic style in the face of climate change. Our selection of 1er Crus gave a satisfying retort, showing plenty of the delicacy and perfume you expect from the village, with none of the weight or density of a solar year.

Following the success of their Clos Vougeot, there was a fine-spun and silky Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru from Joseph Drouhin (94/100), that is consistently the value play in their range. Whilst it was heartbreaking to have a corked 1er Cru Les Cras from Domaine Georges Roumier, we were compensated with perhaps the finest Mugnier wine in the whole tasting: 1er Cru Les Fuees (94/100).

There was a succession of very fine wines from Domaine Ghislaine Barthod, which is increasingly led by the son of Ghislaine and her partner Louis Boillot, Clement. I admire the transparency and minerality of the Barthod style, and also that they can be uncompromising in their structure – sometimes tricky to understand for someone expecting Chambolle to be more seductive. 1er Cru Charmes was the broadest and softest of the Barthod wines, with Cras almost achingly pure, compact and refined. I loved the Fuees, rating it ahead of Domaine Mugnier’s version with 95/100.

We taste Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses and Musigny Grand Cru in the same (blind) flight but, before that, we had a selection of seven Bonnes Mares. This can be a challenging tasting, in a similar vein to Clos Vougeot, featuring some large-scaled and occasionally ungainly wines. 2022 was the most consistently exciting and outstanding set of Bonnes Mares I can remember. Aside from a corked Hudelot-Baillet, I had one wine with 95/100, another with 96/100, two at 97/100 and a 98/100 – the latter being Bruno Clair’s example which showed the most compelling poise and finesse; especially for Bonnes Mares!

Amoureuses and Musigny itself sat at the top of the Chambolle Musigny pyramid. Whilst I have already discussed the sensational Vougeraie Musigny, which was also the group’s preferred example, the runner up – with 99/100 – was Musigny Vieilles Vignes from the resurgent Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue. The changes implemented by Jean Lupatelli are paying dividends and it feels that Vogue is being positioned to reclaim its glory days when the wines were made by Roumier. On that note, my favourite Amoureuses also came from Vogue (98/100), meaning that it edged out examples from both Mugnier and Roumier.

Musigny Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes – Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue

The most bewitching perfume that builds from the nose and then explodes through the palate with scent and intensity. At the same time both flamboyant and controlled. The texture is cool, mineral and crystalline. Has a diamond-cut purity. Wow.

99/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Morey Saint Denis

Morey Saint Denis provided one of my favourite flights of 2022s in the form of Clos St Denis Grand Cru. More broadly, in terms of the group’s average scores, it was our highest scoring vintage for Morey since we began recording such things with the 2015 vintage. Impressively, the 1er Cru wines came out ahead of their peers from Chambolle (excluding Amoureuses), Gevrey and Vosne. On that basis, it could be argued that Morey Saint Denis is the most successful village of the Cote de Nuits in 2022, although this might change if you added in Grand Cru results.

For my part, I found the Morey 1er Crus solidly good rather than truly outstanding. We had a smaller sample than from other villages and I would have liked to have included wines from Virgile Lignier-Michelot to see how they measured up.

Virgile is an enthusiastic advocate of whole clusters and my favourite Morey 1er Crus at Burgfest all included a proportion of stems. I gave 94/100 to both the 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes from Domaine Hubert Lignier (25-33% whole bunches) and the Clos de Bussiere from Roumier (60% whole bunches). My favourite Morey 1er Cru was a new wine from Domaine des Lambrays, the Clos Baulets (40% whole bunches). 2022 is the first release of this from Lambrays in 40+ years, after they reacquired the vineyard sold by a previous owner of the domaine back in 1980.

Amongst the Morey Grand Crus Domaine Dujac dominated, both for me and the wider group. I rated Dujac’s Clos de la Roche 97/100 and the Clos St Denis 98/100.

Clos de Tart performed to type in terms of richness and a dark-toned, concentrated, style (95/100). There was also a surprise success from Domaine Heresztyn-Mazzini, whose fabulously layered and complex Clos St Denis took second place to Dujac, coming in ahead of several very prestigious examples.

Clos St Denis Grand Cru – Domaine Dujac

Distinct oak and reduction creating a fine perfume of exotic spice and red fruit. Superb as this is living on a knife edge in the most exciting fashion. There are high-toned qualities managed with perfect balance, and they bring complexity and some citrus notes. Stems introduce more floral aspects and really shine spotlights on the tannic structure. This hits the afterburners.

98/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Vosne Romanee

We closed Burgfest with a line up of 2022s from Vosne Romanee, culminating in a succession of phenomenal Grand Cru wines.

One of the fascinating aspects of this tasting was the privilege of tasting some of Comte Liger-Belair’s new vineyard holdings – acquired via long-term lease from Nathalie Lamarche – against well-established domaine crus – all blind, of course.

Vosne Romanee 1er Cru La Croix Rameau is a small vineyard at the foot of Romanee St Vivant. The 2022 showed a classical Vosne profile that was almost understated which, to be fair, was often its character under Domaine Lamarche. The palate was sweet and lifted, with a suggestion of exotic spice that nods to Louis-Michel’s style but which did not feel like it was truly locked in and assured. I rated it 92/100. By contrast, Comte Liger-Belair Les Suchots was absolutely classic CLB and couldn’t have been made by anyone else (96/100). I found a similar contrast between the (ex-Lamarche) Grands Echezeaux and stunning domaine Echezeaux, that was my best-in-flight – in equal place with Mugneret-Gibourg.

2022 is the first vintage of these wines under Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. My opinion is that they are extremely promising, although not quite bedded in yet. There will clearly be vineyard work to be done before Louis-Michel has things as he wants them, and I imagine he will also have to ‘learn’ these new crus. The potential, though, is sky high…

Zooming outward, Comte Liger-Belair led my scoring throughout the Vosne 1er cru flights: Suchots 96/100, Reignots 97/100, Petits Monts 96/100. However, each cru contributed sensational wines, such as Domaine Hudelot-Noellat’s old vine Suchots and the gorgeous whole bunch-accented Petits Monts from Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet.

My favourite Vosne flight, and the wider group’s second preferred, included Beaux Monts, Aux Brulees and En Orveaux. For me, the cool and elevated Beaux Monts produced some of the highlights of Vosne 1er Cru, particularly in the wine from Domaine Michele et Patrice Rion which I rated on a par with Comte Liger-Belair’s Aux Reignots.

Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts – Domaine Michele et Patrice Rion

Extravagant and succulent dark fruit tones. Absolutely floods the palate and is, at once, both mouthwatering and utterly pure. The aromas continue to build in the glass until the aromatic intensity is quite astonishing. This same crescendo is replicated on the palate. Brilliant, long and thrilling.

97/100 – Matthew Hemming MW

Coming after the top Vosne 1er Crus the Grand Crus of Flagey-Echezeaux had a tough act to follow. In broad brush terms, I felt that many of the wines – as delicious as they were – failed to really take off and soar, as the Rion Beaux Monts had done. To use one of my favourite wine tasting metaphors, they failed to hit the afterburners.

In terms of average scores I was aligned with the wider group, who placed the best 1er Cru flights ahead of Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux. My highest score for Echezeaux was 95/100, for both Comte Liger-Belair and Mugneret-Gibourg. I clearly rated several earlier wines significantly higher.

Excitement returned when we moved from Flagey-Echezeaux back to Vosne Romanee for a final flight of Grand Crus. Our selection of Richebourg, Romanee St Vivant and La Romanee was an utterly captivating, utterly spellbinding flight. La Romanee showed huge sophistication and incredible texture. Richebourg had power and muscle married to poise. Romanee St Vivant showed characteristic scent and elegance.

In a flight of six wines, I finished with three 99/100s and a perfect 100/100. This sealed the deal for me, confirming 2022’s status as an outstanding red Burgundy vintage. Some of the finest terroirs of Vosne, in combination with 2022, yielded one of the greatest flights of young wine I have ever tasted. Pure magic.