The November 2024 issue of Burgundy-Report

The 2023 Burgundy Vintage:
Part 2 of 3 in the Côte d’Or
Right: Vosne-Romanée – 12-Sept 2023

This report comprises 42 reports of visits from November 2024 plus a link to my summary of the Côte d’Or vintage from the October report.

As usual, from each producer a few words on their vintage campaigns (2023 & 2024) and, as always, those extra-special wines that are worth a special search are highlighted for you. I’ve another 80 visits underway that will populate the November and December reports – online before I head to Chablis in 3 weeks time – I hope 🙂

Part 3 of the Côte d’Or reports will have about another 35 domaines…

The October 2024 issue of Burgundy-Report

The 2023 Burgundy Vintage:
Part 1 of 3 in the Côte d’Or
Right: Pommard – 08-Sept 2023

This report comprises 38 reports of visits from October 2024 plus my summary of the Côte d’Or vintage.

As usual, from each producer a few words on their vintage campaigns (2023 & 2024) and, as always, those extra-special wines that are worth a special search are highlighted for you. I’ve another 80 visits underway that will populate the November and December reports – online before I head to Chablis in 3 weeks time – I hope 🙂

All my best wishes to you all for 2025 – and now it’s time for a glass of Epénots 🙂

2018 Pierre Cotton, Brouilly
Deeply coloured with a dark sweet fruit – still quite detailed but now showing a little age-related spice. Large scale in the mouth – like the nose with good detail but also layers of dark, sweet, fruit – maybe too sweet for more than 2 or 3 glasses 🙂 The last glass cloudy from sediment but still completely drinkable. It’s a lovely wine but to be honest, if I had more, I’d be drinking them…
Rebuy – Maybe

2022 Alvina Pernot, Meursault 1er Poruzot
Wax-topped with a strong, long cork however, despite the label being Poruzot with a Z, the cork is Porusot with an S – just saying!!
Depth of toasty aromas – there’s some impact but still plenty of freshness. Large scale in the mouth – oh yes – bright, intense, juicy wine – though with an overt sweetness of toasty oak in these finishing flavours. But it’s still delicious.
Rebuy – Yes

2022 Julien Duport, Côte de Brouilly La Boucheratte
As deep a colour as the Cotton from 2018. The aromas more incisive, more graphite but with equally dark fruit. Far from a wine of shyness – these dark, extrovert flavours have, like the nose, just a hint more incisive and architectural style to them. Also quite a sweet wine – from the dark, ripe fruit – not sugar – this one a mere 13.5% – but less overtly than the Cotton. A wine that drank beautifully over 3 nights – 2 good glasses a night and the bottle was empty! Drink or hold for another 20 years – a simply superb wine.
Rebuy – Yes

To whet your appetite for lots of imminent 2023 vintage domaine visit reports, here’s a small amuse bouche looking at how the 2024 vintage unfolded, plus a look back at the 2004 vintage – 20 years on – with many bottles opened in the cause.

I hope that you enjoy

My first 2023 report will be online in the next 10 days, with a mix of Côte d’Or domaines – red & white – already including my summary of the vintage in this geography.

2019 Raphael Chopin, Beaujolais-Lantignie La Savoye
Dark colour. Dark fruit too but with very nice detail and nothing overdone. Mouth-filling with just enough softness – maybe just a mm or two of padding but here is silky, delicious, wine. Finishing wide over the palate then very slowly fading with a small uptick in intensity and a touch of graphite. Holding well too. Just a super, and still young, wine…
Rebuy – Yes

Triple Richebourg – nearly

First of all, this year has been a little different: For the very first time when tasting wines, when prompted with the thought ‘wait 10 years, better 15…‘ I’ve started calculating my own age in 15 years, and it takes me way past 3 score and ten! So I’ve started (roughly!) estimating how many bottles are in my cellar and even with an assumption that I will still be happily drinking at age 85, it seems that I have to drink 6 bottles every week for more than 20 years. Today I hardly drink 3 – and rarely actually finish any of those 3.

My cellar is intentionally an uncatalogued free-for-all: I love the intention of looking for bottle X but, by chance, first finding bottle Y – and drinking that instead. The Grivot in the image above was already standing in the cellar, waiting for Christmas, but I just happened on these other two when finding last week’s 2001 Bèze…

Just as I was partway through these bottles, I caught sight of note this week on the 99 Richebourg – brutal! So I put it back in the cellar for another 2-3 years – though my better half pointed out that maybe I shouldn’t be making plans for in 5 years(!!) so maybe I’ll open one anyway – as I do have more… 🙂

1974 du Clos Frantin, Richebourg
The domaine named after the parcel which is now called the Clos d’Eugénie – such a loss of history for this domaine. Plenty of black mold under the capsule. I opt for an Ah-So but the first touch of the prongs and the cork drops into the bottle – plop! I revert to a sieve and a carafe!
I didn’t dare properly smell the wine whilst filling the carafe but the colour and clarity were really not bad. Once in the glass – fresh, leafy though direct and a little metallic too – but really no faults – maybe the mold had made enough of a seal to keep the oxygen out !! In the mouth, a narrow, slightly mineral entry but then the wine widened out with good energy and many dimensions of sweet flavour. This was actually very tasty wine – to benchmark, honestly not better than a very good 2010 Chambolle 1er – but you enjoy it more when you take into account that it’s 50 years old and from a far from great vintage. Indeed all told, for the age and vintage this was still a great wine with such caveats in mind. I loved drinking three large glasses too. The tiny balsamic note from the first evening was hardly magnified on the second – not even even a trace of oxidation – given 24 hours in the carafe, and the age, what a robust performance!
Rebuy – No chance!

1985 François Gros, Richebourg
Bottle #79 of 320 – having previously drunk bottle #78 more than 10 years ago. Again with the Ah-So, this time a more robust but shockingly short cork.
Slightly less colour than the ’74. Cleaner smelling and similarly direct in character to the Frantin. A small but sweet start to these flavours and there’s extra structure visible too – but mild vs a 5-year-old villages! The middle flavours are a little more mineral but less ‘growing’ and less delicious too – it’s still very drinkable, but behind the ’74. A slight balsamic character – more than the 74 – but character is still an apt word for this performance. A long way from a great Richebourg – but still with the proper excitement of opening a 40-year-old wine. At roughly 30 years-old bottle 78 showed more oxidation – that’s old short corks for you – but at least this one didn’t fall into the bottle with the slightest touch!! Overall, I gave it to the Clos Frantin by a short head!
Rebuy – No Chance!