White Burgundy on a Knife Edge – 2021s at Burgfest

After an extensive blind tasting of the top 2021 white Burgundies, if I was shopping for these wines today, I would be buying:

• Saint Aubin for modest drinking.
• The top 1er Crus of Chassagne Montrachet, particularly Cailleret and Grandes Ruchottes and particularly those of Domaine Paul Pillot.
• Top Puligny, including Les Pucelles and (again) Cailleret.
• Chevalier Montrachet.
• As much Jean Chartron as I could find.

Last month saw the first Burgfest tasting of 2025, this session examining the 2021 whites. This has always been a vintage poised on the edge of a knife:

• Spring frosts wrought total havoc in the vineyards calling into question the viability of the entire vintage and wiping out up to 85% of some producers’ potential crops.
• A cool, wet season meant growers were chasing ripeness in a way that would have been more familiar to their parents than the current generation in the climate change era.
• The resulting wines require pin-point balance to sustain the elevated acidity and tensile textures of 2021.

Balancing these various elements, 2021 has always been a racy, high wire style of vintage. The trouble with attempting to balance on a knife edge is that not everyone is able to pull it off – for every successful wine there are probably three or four that teeter and fall. For this reason, 2021 is an inconsistent year for white Burgundy and buying blindly, across the board, is a risky business. Seek out the successes, however, and there are some very special wines to discover.

My standard set up, complete with wine drips on my laptop

After tasting the 2021s from barrel I was pretty positive about the vintage. In fact, we have just re-posted my original vintage report for comparison. I found a tension, structure and cool vintage character in the wines that fuelled my enthusiasm, so it was fascinating to return and re-taste from bottle and a couple of years down the line.

In that frustratingly familiar Burgundian fashion, whilst I was not totally wrong about 2021, neither was I totally right. The upshot is that the wines are less consistent that I initially understood and, if anything, the vintage’s ups and downs have been amplified by time.

Stylistically, the best wines have retained that frisson of excitement and crackle of electricity that I identified from barrel. They are lean, spare, mineral wines – as opposed to the generosity of a vintage like 2022 – that have great structure and nervous energy. However, these are in the minority. Turning to the numbers, of the 2016 wines we (blind) tasted at Burgfest, I rated 119 at 90/100 or higher but only 14 at 95/100 and up. For consistency, 2020 is a much safer bet.

On reflection, I believe there are two main factors that brought 2021 down in my estimation.

The first is the frost: I underestimated how devastating this had been and how big an impact it would have on the resulting wines. Tasting through wines from areas that were particularly frost struck, such as Chablis and Corton Charlemagne, so many of them exhibited hard, brittle textures with insufficient fruit and volume to achieve balance. These wines felt stunted by the growing season and my interpretation is that the vines were knocked back by the frost and never had the opportunity to recover and bring fruit to full physiological ripeness. Jean-Michel Chartron reported making use of fruit from secondary buds in some instances; that is, buds produced after the vines’ initial generation had been lost to frost. Second generation fruit rarely delivers the full charge of intensity or ripeness as it is at a disadvantage from having ‘started’ so late. The other issue is that, unlike Pinot Noir, Chardonnay achieves higher quality at slightly higher yields. With the frost destroying so much of the potential crop – Chavy-Chouet, for example, lost about 70% – the vines simply did not produce enough fruit to be properly balanced.

The second issue for a lot of less successful 2021s is botrytis.

During the barrel tastings I remember Jeremy Seysses (www.dujac.com) describing 2021 as “un retro millesime”. It became part of the wider narrative of the vintage, that I adopted, that 2021 was old school and a throwback to the pre-global warming style. The linear profile and low pH, high acid, structures of the best wines support this characterisation. Thick-textured wines with aromas of orange blossom and the sticky, spicy fruit notes of botrytis are something else altogether.

A small botrytis influence in white Burgundy can be a positive attribute, bringing additional complexity. DRC’s Montrachet often shows this note and Bouchard Pere et Fils’ Chevalier Montrachet 2023 showed a whisper of this that gave an attractively intriguing back note. However, it is a question of very fine balance and another element of the knife edge that is the theme of this article. The danger is that botrytis sits ‘over’ the fundamental building blocks of a wine, obscuring both fruit purity and terroir signature. It is not uncommon for us to find botrytis during our white Burgfest tastings, but I was genuinely surprised at the high incidence in 2021.

Once through the frost, 2021 saw a cool, damp growing season that left fruit on the margins of ripeness. A spell of warmer weather, late in the season, finally ripened the grapes and raise the sugars. After all the rainfall the August warmth would have created conditions of high humidity, ideal for the formation of botrytis. In Sauternes Noble Rot is highly prized; in white Burgundy it compromises and smudges fruit purity. It is a frequent issue from Chablis to Corton Charlemagne and buyers need to navigate the vintage with care if they wish to avoid it.

Each flight, grouped by vineyard, is decanted and served blind

After a few vintages where I have left a bit disappointed in Saint Aubin – as though the village’s contours and detail had been planed away by excessive ripeness – 2021 delivered the goods. The wines, especially those from Murgers des Dents de Chien and En Remilly, were fragrant, lithe and expressive. The best showed an inner richness of fruit tempered by the zippy acidity of the vintage and the cooler climate bite of these upper slope sites.

Overall the group’s favourite Saint Aubin was the 1er Cru En Remilly from Hubert Lamy. To me, this was typically Lamy and therefore a bit inexpressive and tricky to understand at this stage. I much preferred Domaine de Montille’s version of this same vineyard. Jean Chartron came in a very respectable third place overall.

2021 is highly rewarding in Saint Aubin

Saint Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly 2021 – Domaine de Montille

A wine of real richness and a distinctly rich and creamy oak. Has a sense of decadence that’s just slightly out of place? Opulent texture at the expense of precision. Hard to judge. All very melded and seamless. Starts to awaken and uncoil with air and the acidity becomes more apparent.
93/100

It is well established that Chassagne Montrachet is currently home to some of the Cote de Beaune’s most exciting producers. The 2021s proved this once again, throwing Meursault into the shade – barring a handful of wines from growers such as Ballot-Millot. In a village of diverse and varied terroirs, it was the elite vineyards that truly shone, but that simply goes to prove why these are the most esteemed sites.

Now one of the great wines, and great domaines, of white Burgundy

With Thierry Pillot at the helm Domaine Paul Pillot is carving out a reputation as one of the finest addresses for white wine in the entire Cote. 1er Cru Les Caillerets from Domaine Paul Pillot was exceptional and my first 95/100 in two days of tasting. Both his 1er Crus La Romanee and Grandes Ruchottes were also excellent. Whilst I found La Grande Montagne perhaps too much of a good thing – a bit too big, bold and powerful – the rest of the group loved it and placed it #2 to the Caillerets. Other superb examples of Chassagne came in the form of a tightly-coiled and mineral Cailleret from Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay (94/100) and Alex Moreau’s refined and delicate reading of Grandes Ruchottes (93/100).

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 2021 – Domaine Paul Pillot

A wine of significant thrust, power and intensity. There’s a muscle that’s very impressive but also hard to reward in the context of the vintage. That said, the sheer acceleration and punch of this, and its mineral line, is impossible to ignore. Lots of reduction but the wine sings through that and will win out in time. For now, it’s pure, savoury and linear. Really takes off with more air.
95/100

After Chassagne, followed Meursault; and after Meursault, followed Puligny. Following the fireworks of the top Chassagne wines, our morning of Meursault felt slightly flat, failing to live up to the wonderful wines produced in the 2020 vintage. At first, I worried that our Puligny flights were following a similar trajectory. Domaine Leflaive’s Les Combettes delivered a masterclass in how to manage controlled, struck match reductive qualities. Whilst perhaps not one of Leflaive’s all-time greats it was still a benchmark for this vineyard and is the relative value play amongst the domaine’s 1er Crus (94/100). Another high was the elegant and harmonious Les Folatiers from Domaine Bachelet-Monnot (94/100), another estate that is consistently hitting all the high notes and which deserves close attention. Other than these rare peaks, there were a lot of middle-of-the-road Puligny wines and too much botrytis. I think we can legitimately demand a bit more excitement from Puligny 1er Cru.

Finally, with the flights from Les Pucelles and Le Cailleret, I found the Puligny Montrachet I was looking for. The light, shade and nuance of proper complexity started to make itself known and the fabulous texture of the best wines announced a pedigree approaching Grand Cru level. It was fascinating to contrast the more opulent character of Pucelles with the more pronounced mineral accents of Cailleret.

Just next door to Montrachet, Le Cailleret is an exceptional vineyard

The two Clos of Jean Chartron stole the show for me, coming in ahead of stiff competition including the iconic Les Pucelles of Domaine Leflaive.

Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Pucelle 2021 – Jean Chartron

Oak, hazelnuts and cream. Very classic and very expressive of the vineyard. Broad and full through the mid-palate, this is uncompromising in profile. On the back of the palate, spice, blossom and pepper tones start to kick in. This is very coherent and full of potential. It opens out through its line. Potentially very exciting. I’m a fan neither of the nougat characters nor the slight botrytis but both really add to this and amplify the overall wine. Lovely sweet fruit on the finish.
95/100

Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Clos du Cailleret 2021 – Jean Chartron

Not so much through mid-palate texture but, through complexity, this totally does it. There’s simply such a wealth of spice and blossom that takes off through the middle of this wine. High tensile core of almost electric energy. White fruit on the back end. Very long and scintillating. Lemongrass, mineral, driving. Gets better and better with a superb transfer of the small pebbles and mineral, steely terroir.
95/100

Amongst the Grand Crus, I have already mentioned that I feel Corton Charlemagne struggled in 2021. The hillside vines were exposed to the full fury of the frost and I could not get excited by the wines we tasted. My favourite only managed 93/100 and was a cool and chalky example from Domaine de Montille. Just behind it, I was slightly blind-sided by the wine from Pierre Girardin, this young gun’s first year showing wines at Burgfest.

At first I felt this was too bold and too marked by what I thought was botrytis but, as it sat in the glass, it got better and better as only the best wines can. I suspect, if tasted in isolation, and over a longer period, I might end up rating it significantly higher.

Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2021 – Pierre-Vincent Girardin

Ripe, toasty, and slightly earthy / dusty. Bold fruit and botrytis. Too much orange blossom and marmalade on the palate. Making a nod towards cut and vigour but it’s just a little raw and missing some class. Confit lemon finish. Unlike the previous wine, this actually builds in definition and energy. Still bold but holding interest and drive. By the end, I’m thinking this is almost totally clean. Bright and snappy.
92/100

As we moved through seven different Batard Montrachets, with a couple of Bienvenues mixed in (to keep us honest), there were impressive showings once again from Domaines Coffinet-Duvernay and Vincent Girardin, and Pierre Girardin. Overall, for the group, Jean Chartron’s Batard Montrachet came in second place, just behind a tie for gold between Vincent Girardin’s Batard and the Bienvenues Batard Montrachet of Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet. However, for my palate, the Bachelet wine was the clear winner.

A wealth of Batard Montrachet, with a pair of Bienvenues snuck in

Throughout the tasting, from Saint Aubin via Chassagne and Puligny, this estate had fielded some consistently impressive wines. Marked by a distinctive elevage, in terms of both oak signature and intensely reductive qualities, these are 2021s of significant intensity and pristinely ripe fruit. Finally, at Grand Cru level, J-C Bachelet moved from challenging the flight winners, to claiming a place on the podium.

Bienvenues Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2021 – Domaine Jean-Claude Bachelet

Stylised but successfully so. Spicy, buttered popcorn reduction on the nose. The fruit is clean, however, and the oak doesn’t intrude. Has a silky texture, with more butter, that’s not as opulent as some but brings some creamy luxury. Nicely defined and proportioned on the savoury finish. Vivid, bright and taut. Builds in the glass.
96/100

Drawing Burgfest to a close, we tasted eight examples of Chevalier Montrachet and a trio of three Montrachet. As is often the case, I found myself preferring the more focused and linear styles of Chevalier to the greater opulence and exotic tones of Montrachet itself – very possibly because our sample of the latter was even smaller than usual in this low-yielding vintage.

From Chevalier Montrachet we tasted wines from:

• Bouchard Pere et Fils (no La Cabotte in 2021)
• Bruno Colin
• Olivier Leflaive (Domaine)
• Domaine Leflaive
• Jean Chartron
• Domaine Louis Jadot
• Domaine de la Vougeraie
• Philippe Colin

My favourite flight in five days of tasting

Tasted blind, the wines from Jean Chartron and Domaine Leflaive stood proud above the rest of the pack. I adored the floral aspects, salinity and texture of the Leflaive (97/100) but put Jean-Michel Chartron’s Clos des Chevaliers a nose ahead (98/100). It was so pure, transparent, mineral and long; this wine delivered all I had hoped to find in 2021 white Burgundy.

Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru 2021 – Domaine Leflaive

A very fine example of walking the knife edge between sweet, savoury, floral, mineral and taut. I get the salinity and melted butter textural qualities that really set this apart. There is drive but it’s married to a concentration and inner richness that keeps it from being too sparse.
97/100

Chevalier Montrachet Clos des Chevaliers Grand Cru 2021 – Jean Chartron

Silky, pure and mouth-watering fruit. Marked mineral component. Very pure and very tight. Feels like a very high fidelity picture of the vineyard. All stoney and just the right amount of austere. Linear, long and crackling with energy. Just on the back end a spice element starts to explode. This is superb.
98/100

Our Burgfest tasting of 2021s frustrated and messed with my expectations of the vintage as only Burgundy can! I had not expected so much botrytis and had bought into the narrative of an old school vintage to too great a degree. In addition, I probably over-estimated the quality of 2021 in Meursault, although I would be keen to re-visit wines we did not taste such as Chavy-Chouet and Jean-Michel Gaunoux. At the same time, Saint Aubin surprised to the significant upside and the style of the best wines corresponded to my expectation for linear, mineral and structured wines.

The finest white Burgundies of 2021 are extremely serious, they are still tasting very youthful and are full of potential for the future.

One thing I do not think I got wrong about 2021 was my enthusiasm for the wines of Jean Chartron. Jean-Michel is my friend and we sell his wines, so it is doubly difficult to write about them whilst retaining credibility. At Burgfest I have the safety blanket of having tasted the wines blind and can also fall back on the overall group verdict – which this year consistently rated Chartron ahead of Domaine Leflaive. Without turning this tasting report into a sales pitch, I think that’s all that needs to be said.

And off to the recycling…