Part 1: 2020 Mainly Mâconnais – Sept 2021
Part 2: 2020 Côte d’Or – Oct 2021
Part 3: 2019 Chablis – Jan 2022

Chablis, 5pm Prehy – 27 January 2022

“2020 is another average yielding vintage – though with a higher volume in the grand crus. Yet another dry and hot year that surprised many domaines as there was still plenty of juice. The wines are clearly ripe and a little fleshy – think of a 2015-style fruit – yet they have a higher level of structure and precision than that vintage – aided by good acidity – and certainly versus the 2019s that preceded it, lower alcohols too. There are many, many excellent and even great wines – some of which I’ve ordered – typically with a zesty citrus-skin presentation that contributes to their apparent structure. There are also downright green/pyrazine-inflected wines* – I estimate as much as 10% – that make me worry that this will gradually change to the (even) less pleasant asparagus notes found in many 2011s. Except for the ‘10%’ I position this as the best vintage since at least the 2017s – perhaps a notch higher.”

*Note: less than 10% of people are sensitive to pyrazines, I just happen to be extra sensitive!

Of course, the devil is always in the detail:

The small sting in the tail of 2020 white burgundy

When I began my tour of this new vintage, I started tasting whites in Mâconnais and slowly made my way North. By the end of 2021, it was clear that 2020 was a great vintage for whites everywhere. I expected the continuation of that in January – an easy time in Chablis – but things turned out to be more complicated than I’d expected:

• So, Chablis 2020 is a well-structured vintage with much in the way of citrus bitters – or zesty citrus if you prefer. This makes the wines seem a little more robust and structured – I like this very much There’s clearly more precision to the wines than the easy but tasty 2019s – less alcohol too – which would be my preference – even if I hardly tasted it in the 2019s.
• Some producers chose to compare 2020 with the 2014 or 2012 vintages – I really don’t see that. My reasoning is that there was a certain cool austerity to those vintages – more in 2014, less in 2012 – which you won’t find in the 2020s. Yes, the 2020s are structured but it is their (aforementioned) citrus bitters that are accentuating their structure, they do not share the same mineral austerity of 2012 and 2014. You might better compare to 2017 but with the warmth of 2020 showing in the fleshy fruit. This fruit more reminds me of 2015 yet with an overall more taut shape and extra precision – hence my easy preference for 2020 over 2015.
• Because of this ‘citrus-structure,’ elegance is rare – but William Fevre still have it.
• This is, indeed, the most ‘classic Chablis’ vintage since at least 2017 – maybe even the pairing of 2012/2014. In many, if not most, cases – blind – you are directly drawn to Chablis despite a year with ripe fruit.
• The acidity is the best (most) for a few vintages now – rarely is it sharp.
• 2020 Petit Chablis is another very easy vintage, without austerity – it’s very tasty wine – and very easy to drink too, if you avoid the greens.
• Green part 1: And the small sting in the tail of the 2020s?
  Well, it’s the green wines, those with obvious pyrazines. I went through all my (January 2022) tasting notes of the 2020 whites – nearly 600 of them – and found just under 11% where I’d mentioned herby green notes or flavours – or indeed outright pyrazines. In that 11%, I did not include those where I mentioned green-citrus or lime.
• Green part 2: I realise that I’m hyper-sensitive to pyrazines and a majority of buyers have no – or limited – sensitivity to them. Buying will be easy for those who are insensitive – yet – some of those greener wines reminded me of 2011 Chablis, many of which remain heavy with asparagus notes. I like asparagus – but not in my wine-glass. I am concerned that some of this green may evolve into asparagus – and people are generally more sensitive to that.
• Green part 3: A majority of winemakers suggested to me that they had never noted anything green about the 2020s – based on average sensitivity to pyrazines – that would be no surprise. A number of other winemakers nodded their heads in agreement and told me that it was a problem. As one winemaker described “Practically the only difficulty in 2020 was to choose the right harvest date: We had areas with 13 or 13.5° but the skins and pips were clearly unripe. It wasn’t like that in 2021 – you got to 11 or 11.5° and the grapes were done – completely ripe – with brown pips. Probably most people started harvesting a couple of days too early and finished a couple of days too late in terms of ‘optimum’ maturity – it was the nature of the beast in 2020. But yes, those greens are almost certainly from under-ripe grapes.”
• Green part 4 (last): Ripeness does seem to be at the core of the green/not green conundrum. Green wines are mainly to be found in Petit Chablis and Chablis, less frequently in the premier crus but sometimes. I can’t recall a single grand cru showing such traits – and it’s the grand crus that have the optimum ripeness.

A Market Perspective:

In Chablis, the waves of elation and despondency have been hard to witness in the last couple of years – the perfect example of this would be the 2018 vintage: There was such joy during the 2018 harvest as there was, finally, lots of volume after two meagre frosted and hailed vintages – confidence was on the up! Fast-forward to the time to bottle and commercialise the vintage – and there was covid-confinement! When I visited to taste 2019s in January 2021, many producers lamented that they had not yet made their (planned) second and/or third bottlings of Chablis because there were no customers. So from joy to heartbreak for the 2018s in little more than one year. Just over two months later came the frost of April 2021 – decimating the Petit Chablis and Chablis but from this additional despondency came a leap in the bulk prices as everyone knew that wine would be scarce. In short order, all the 2018s were sold out – and that’s just the ups and downs of a single vintage!

• Bulk prices remain very high for Petit Chablis and Chablis – unsustainably high – there is insufficient margin (ie a loss!) for people selling at ‘average prices.’ Those who chose to, or habitually, sell in bulk will have earned more money than the majority of those who bottle and commercialise under their own label. Premier and grand cru prices have also risen but less spectacularly – there is still some margin available for those who buy these wines in bulk.
• Merchants and distributors largely noted the frost and so piled-in with double-sized orders for 2020s – of course, there wasn’t double the amount of wine available! As one producer confided ‘Many are understanding, they know the reality on the ground – they are just thankful for what we can allocate. Some others have been downright unpleasant – abusive even – when told there’s only half the amount of wine coming in 2021. We have been, frankly, amazed at how unpleasant some people we considered ‘close’ could be!‘
• I actually bought more wine from 2020 than I did from 2019 but demand for Chablis has skyrocketed since the frost of April 2021 so it’s becoming more difficult to source the bottles and 2021 has hardly delivered two-thirds of the volume produced in 2020. At the domaines, 2020 is virtually sold out and the 2021s that they have are almost all reserved – some domaines are doing early (first) bottlings in order to ‘have something to sell.’
• For the first time in many years, the producers are able to achieve price increases – as much as 15% – yet given the lower pricing of wine from this region vs other parts of Burgundy you are likely to have more problems finding wine than actually paying for that wine.

Because everyone loves lists:

Of-course the relative position of respective domaines in their elevage has an effect on how brilliantly – or not – their wines show. In January, from 64 domaines visited, here are my magnificent 7 domaines – roughly alphabetically – and with an array of styles:

NB – of-course this list is for the white wines of Chablis – and some of my habitual visits are missing due to the twin constraints of available time and showing some new domaines too. I will be in Chablis at the start of April to add another 15-or-so domaines. You will get more information on this in my April report (obviously to come) but the green and pyrazines seem much more prevalent in the reds of the Auxerois than the whites – so take care out there – and remember that the reds of 2018 and 2019 are excellent!

And wines to drink now?

Of-course, if you have 2008-2010 in your cellar, then the 08s and 09s are largely ready and you can wait a little longer for the 2010s but they already taste great – re-confirmed with a few bottles in January. The 2011s still have (~70%) an accent, or more, of asparagus – which can be linked to pyrazines – but if you have good ones (your mileage will certainly vary) then it’s no shame to start drinking them. And from the 2012-2018 vintages that I’ve reviewed in Burgundy Report, not much has changed in the last 12 months; I’m stilldrinking occasional 2012s – the grand crus are much easier than the ‘smaller’ wines just now – the 2013s, 2015s, 2018s and 2019s with great joy – Petit Chablis and Chablis 2017 remain excellent too.

Enjoy if you have any or all of those!

A little 2020 Vintage Background:

The view from River Serein – 10 January 2022

Annual Production Volumes

*VCI of the previous year claimed to fill crop deficits – more info here. Figures courtesy the BIVB, Chablis.