The 2019 Champagne? Well, pinot meunier is not my favourite, maybe thanks to that, there were some high-toned esters I didn’t like – but what a wine! Powerful, intense and very long with a strong salinity. This was absolutely a wine that had to be drunk – none left for day two – and also a wine I might consider buying 😉

2022 JJ Archambaud, Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas
Lots of colour. Still a cherry-purple rim. A deep and concentrated nose, unfortunately with quite a lot of creamy oak today – that’s not unfortunate for the future, but my bottle is open today! Wide, intense, a first texture that’s silky but slowly adds some bitters too. Saline, ultra-wide finishing. This is a powerful wine but clearly a bit too young for drinking (with pleasure) today…
Rebuy – Maybe

Two 1999s – currently one of my favourite vintages, but not for these two! Both have been stored in the same corner of the cellar for many years. Every wine will be different, and mainly due to the quality of their corks:

1999 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne En Crêots
A wine-saturated cork, though I only broke the first cm. The cork itself smells of oxidised wine – but for older wines (usually 30 years older!) – that’s often the case for a wine-saturated cork, and it doesn’t mean that the wine will be the same.
Medium, medium-plus colour – and no cloudiness. No, there’s hardly any oxidation. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of brett. Direct, silky, plenty of acidity, but also an interesting depth of flavour with a slight accent of oxidation, but no flavour of brett. Long, quite direct and intense finishing. Holding impressively long, a metallic, blood-iron type of flavour, still with some subtle bitters – but no tannic grain. This was potentially a bit of a brute for the first few (15?) years of its life, but it seems quite drinkable – and with a better cork, this would probably be a super Bourgogne.
Rebuy – No but with a better cork, probably.

1999 Michel Gay, Beaune 1er Les Toussaints
What a great cork! Just 2mm of colour from wine ingress – and it comes out in one piece too!
The basic colour is similar to that of the Giroud, but here it’s cloudy and with plenty of sediment that hasn’t settled in 48 hours of ‘uprightness.’ To add to the cloudiness, there’s a pervasive note of brett – really as much as I’ve smelled in a wine for a long time – DNPIM*
Rebuy – No

*Do Not Put In Mouth !!

Old wine

New wine

Frozen wine

Drunk wine

Corked wine

Some tasted wine

Chablis

Time for Chablis honey

Frozen but good

And a good cork too…

Last week I was in Chablis – not too cold and not too wet. Unfortunately, the refrigerator in my chambre d’hôte was set way too cold !! So cold, in fact, that two of my bottles froze in there!

The Leroy – the last of a case of 12 – almost lost its cork completely. Truth be told, it was of no loss as the wine was completely corked – yuk – but it was the only bad wine from this case. The Bonnes-Mares fared much better – it was delicious…

It was not the only wine though:

2022 de Moor, Chablis 1er Montmains – delicious, slightly apple fruit aroma as always at this domaine – but a wine of concentration and fruit6 but also of minerality and ‘place!’
2022 Vincent Dauvissat, Chablis 1er Fourneaux – a new wine here since 2021, lost for a couple of years but returning in 2025. A subtle aromatic ripeness of fruit, but a wine of architecture and minerality – it’s a Dauvissat !!
1998 Fougeray de Beauclair, Bonnes-Mares – A fine, robust cork That survived the wine being frozen! Medium colour. Complex and ‘ready’ aromas. Not the power – or tannin – of its youth. But delicious, complex, almost easy drinking…
2021 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Beauroy (Mag) – Deep but fresh citrus! Open, deliciously energetic and complex, with a little salinity too. A crowd-pleaser !!
2013 Château Mopulin à Vent, Moulin à Vent Croix des Vérillats (Mag) – A beautiful depth of complex, slightly spiced aromas – plenty of attractive development here too. Easy-going, delicious wine – not ultra complex but delicious, easy drinking…

On Friday, April 24, the 2026 Excellence Awards tasting for the Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune and Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits wines was held in Beaune. For over 70 years, this tasting has brought together the best wines produced in the high-altitude vineyards of these two regional appellations.

In 2026, 101 cuvées were tasted by a panel of 31 judges. 13 cuvées from the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune received awards, and 20 from the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. That’s too high a percentage for them all to be ‘Great Wines’ but I’d expect these wines to be very good/delicious examples of pinot noir and chardonnay with accessible pricing in the context of burgundy wines…

The 2026 winners follow below…

**Press Release | April 2026**

The 2026 Excellence Awards in Figures

101 cuvées were presented in 2026:
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune: 54
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits: 47

33 cuvées received the 2026 Excellence Award:
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune: 13 wines, including 7 whites and 6 reds
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits: 20 wines, including 9 whites and 11 reds

The 2026 Tasting, Award-Winning Wines

DOMAINE BERGER RIVE – MANOIR DE MERCEY
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Au Paradis, rouge, 2024
DOMAINE BORIS CHAMPY
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Montagne 382, blanc, 2024
DOMAINE CARRE REGAZZONI
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Champ de la foire, rouge, 2024
CHÂTEAU DE LABORDE
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, En Cuillery, rouge, 2024
VINS COUDURIER JUNG
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Notre Marie, blanc, 2023
DOMAINE DE LA COZANNE
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Le Ban, blanc, 2023
DOMAINE CRUCHANDEAU
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Valançons, rouge, 2024
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Valançons, rouge, 2022
DOMAINE GUY ET YVAN DUFOULEUR
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguettes, rouge, 2024
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, La Réserve de Cyprien, rouge, 2023
DOMAINE ALAIN-MAURICE GAVIGNET
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguettes, blanc, 2024
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguettes, rouge, 2024
DOMAINE MICHEL GROS
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Fontaine Saint Martin, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Au Vallon, rouge, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Fontaine Saint Martin, rouge, 2023
DOMAINE HOFFMANN JAYER
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, rouge, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Rosalie, rouge, 2023
DOMAINE DU LYCÉE VITICOLE DE BEAUNE
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Le Mont Battois, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, rouge, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, rouge, 2024
DOMAINE MONGEARD MUGNERET
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguettes, rouge, 2024
NUITON BEAUNOY CAVE DES HAUTES COTES
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Le Prieuré, blanc, 2024
MANUEL OLIVIER
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, blanc, 2024
DOMAINE PANSIOT
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, blanc, 2025
MAISON PROSPER MAUFOUX
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Domaine du Château de Saint Aubin, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Domaine du Château de Saint Aubin, rouge, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Domaine Vigne au Roy, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Domaine Vigne au Roy, rouge, 2023
DOMAINE REGNARD
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, blanc, 2024
DOMAINE JEAN-CHARLES RION
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Millottes, blanc, 2023
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Millottes, blanc, 2022
DOMAINE TRENET PÈRE ET FILS
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, La Gascogne, blanc, 2024

2023 Henri & Gilles Buisson, St.Romain Sous la Velle
A great looking cork, topped with a little more than a mm of wax – a lozenge of wax…
Medium Yellow. The nose starts off biscuity and even suggests a little reduction. Wide, cool-flavoured, some density, and even a little structure. But that’s only if you’re looking, if you’re not looking, it’s just an easy, fresh flavour energy. The middle to finish bursts forward and lasts really well – but again, only if you’re looking. Mild-mannered or boisterously energetic – two faces of the same wine depending on where your attention lies 😉 – Oh, and yum!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Heritiers Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
The cork splits in two, but the lower part stays on the neck and comes easily out in one piece.
Plenty of colour. A round nose, with a small cushion and some floral complexity – nice. Ooh – this is a mouthful of perfume, still with a subtly rustic structural frame. It’s the flavour that pulls you in, delicious if still faintly drying from the tannin. What a baby, it’s a super wine. Clean and attractive, but it will continue to improve for another 20+ years. I’ll wait 3 or 4 more years for the next bottle – and I hope it’s more ready then, as I’ve 6 more 🙂
Rebuy – Yes

I’ve always loved Champagne but have no wish to follow the boringly well-trodden route of burgundy reviewers taking on Champagne – and, effectively, reducing their commitment to Burgundy 🙂 It’s enough that half of the (also quite expensive) bottles that I try are a little too oxidative for my taste – but this one was recommended by someone who understood my tastes and it was VERY well-chosen. This was obviously showing its pinot content – I tend to prefer blanc de blancs – and the bubbles started with some aggression – but an hour after opening, it was singing…

2023 Nicole Lamarche, Hautes Côtes de Nuits
The modest colour of many from 2023. A pretty, airy quite transparent red fruit – strawberry style. The aromatic fruits has the same style in the flavours with a small cushion of creamy oak – I prefer my oak more discrete, but this is deliciously done. The aftertaste has a fine width, with plenty of earthy, cherry-stone, graphitic style – also very 2023. Just drinking beautifully already – there’s no shame in drinking this now !!
Rebuy – Yes