**2011 reds you really have to refer to this.
*Vintages in red, drink-up to minimise oxidation issues: Note, I’ve had occasional negative messages about 07 and 08s – but seen no evidence myself.
(As always, based on decent producers, because even in good years, the worst are to be avoided!)

Version 1.30 – December 2012
Updated based on most recent experiences, and adding the latest (2011) vintage. Scores in bold have changed by one point (in the arrow direction) since the previous version.
Version 1.20 – November 2011
Version 1.10 – November 2010
Version 1.00 – January 2010

Vintage Charts…

I thought that you didn’t like vintage charts? : It seems like forever that I’ve been telling you that vintage charts are close to useless. The standard approach of a particular number of stars, or marks out of 10 etc., per vintage could never and will never encapsulate the ‘what-ifs’ of burgundy.

Despite that, or maybe in-spite of that(!), it has become a regular theme in my mailbox – okay regular is relative, but it’s a couple of questions or requests every month (eh, DC…?). During the summer, one mail was essentially phrased – ‘but what if you had to?‘ Well I’ve thought about it, and concise is still out of the window, but here is an early ‘work in progress’ shot at a solution.

What about vintages? : You will say that I’m missing a lot of vintages, and that’s true, I’ve restricted myself only to vintages that I’ve tasted from barrel and have continued to follow their development.

And the numbers? : Marked out of 20 – I have decided to give you three; the top one is an average (in my opinion) for the vintage, but alone, and even as an average, that won’t help you get a feel for the vintage – you still need some idea of the gap between the best wines and the disappointing ones, the ‘spread’ if you like – i.e. your relative chance of hitting a good one or a bad one, blind – with those additional two numbers the table is now starting to offer some limited value, but unknown labels will forever remain a game of roulette.

What it doesn’t do? : It doesn’t do a lot; it doesn’t differentiate between Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits (or Hautes Côtes or Chablis or Côtes Chalonnaise etc., etc.), it doesn’t differentiate the good producers who failed or excelled in a particular vintage, it also doesn’t tell you that despite the first 4 from 5 white vintages ‘peaking’ at 19/20 possible points (ouch I hate points) that the characters of each are totally different – some may be to your taste, some not. It’s also (at best) a snapshot, as vintages can evolve in unexpected directions – what comes out of a bottle is a moving target – with every update I expect some scores to improve and others to slide…

So do I now believe a vintage chart for burgundy is possible? Well in my heart no – but for those people that counter with ‘anything is better than nothing’, I’ll revisit this every six to 12 months (or so). If you have some bright ideas to make it better, whilst retaining portability, then do get in touch – none of that NIH syndrome here!