29 March 2022: Pruning for poles – En Echalas – the new vogue…

Just one summary?

For central Burgundy – ie before I visit Chablis and Beaujolais – yes, just one. In the years that you’ve paid me to write these annual reports, this is the first time that I’ve taken this approach. Why?

From my tastings and the leanings of my own palate this is the the first vintage since at least 2010, or potentially 2002, where I don’t have an overt preference between the reds or the whites. Which is not to conflate vintage styles – 2022 is not like 2010, nor is it like 2002 – 2022 is clearly 2022.

There is also a vintage characteristic present in most of the reds and whites – it’s a certain juiciness – it’s a word that I’ve never written so often as in 2022. So, wines that are equally good, and with a similar style of vivacity – so just one summary!

How did we get here?

2018 produced very inconsistent red wines, sometimes faulty but in this respect, the Côte de Beaune fared much better than the Côte de Nuits where there were more black, over-extracted, volatile and sometimes bretty wines. The whites had a very big volume and were easy and tasty even if they would never win any competitions for concentration!
2019 was a great and very consistent vintage for the reds, and in both halves of the Côte d’Or – fluid, highly successful wines. The whites were quite full, concentrated and fine textured with largely controlled if still high alcohols.
2020 in the reds of the Côte de Beaune, we usually saw more structural wines – body-builder wines – wines of less flair and fluidity than 2019. In the Côte de Nuits the 2020s were, generally, more successful – retaining much fluidity despite, often, more material than in 2019. Wines for the ages, even if I would (personally) probably enjoy the 2019s more for the next 10-20 years. The whites versus the 2019s were generally a bit more consistent – structured but often fluid – wines of power but clarity that you can keep longer than the 2019s…
2021 itself was still a hot one – NASA suggested that it was, globally, the sixth hottest on record, before 2022 & 2023, of course! Clearly, the frost decimated volumes – both red and white – but there are many great, more classically fresh, wines with plenty of ripeness from the warm finish to the growing season. The extra sweetness in both 2020 and 2022 means it’s better not to mix the red vintages at table or you may not enjoy your 2021s as much!
2022 Another record – but only the second hottest vintage on record for the Burgundy region – so far! – 2003 is still leading this particular statistic. If not from outright heat, 2022 is the vintage with the highest recorded hours of sunshine. It’s a vintage that produced a very clean crop, so with minimal triage, and marked a return to decent volumes – for many producers it was the first ‘correct‘ volume since 2018.
2023 – Oops!

The Production Statistics

Click for full size. Figures courtesy the BIVB in hectolitres: 1 hectolitre (1 hl) = 100 litres

If we were to simply compare (only) the volumes, then the reds of 2022 would be analagous with those of 2017 or 2018 and the whites with those of 2018. Clearly, and for both colours, all are quite different. Christophe Chauvel of Albert Bichot puts it very well: “The heat comes at different times each year and the result is completely different each time. The hydric stress also, with different timings there are different outcomes…”

That the lack of grapes in the frosted 2021 vintage triggered a good (extra) charge of grapes in 2022 was to be expected. The important domaines managed this in their customary, meticulous, way. Many others chose to hedge their bets but not pruning so hard – let’s call it insurance for possible losses from hail – hail was barely seen in 2022. It was this latter cadre of growers (not always known as wine producers, more often they are sellers of grapes) that made extra volume and also made life ‘complicated’ for customers paying top dollar for not the most concentrated grapes.

The Vintage

Another mild February. So it was another early-starting vintage. Because of that, the region flirted with frost with the same timing as in 2021: The candles and wind-machines – and even some newly installed trace heating (Bonneau du Martray in Charlemagne and the Jobards in Meursault Genevrières) were in place to fight the frost. The region had luck – despite a couple of nights of mildly negative temperatures the weather and vineyards were dry – unlike in wetter, colder 2021 – so there was minimal to zero damage.

At this stage the vintage resembled 2020 for timing and had a fast and easy period for flowering – right in Chassagne Morgeot, 24-May-2022 – we already saw 30°C in the vines in mid-May – but there followed a hotter, drier June vs 2020 which (possibly) caused veraison to take longer than the vigneron(ne)s expected.

Did I say dry? On the 22nd June a massive rainstorm hit Gevrey-Chambertin, funneled down the Combe de Lavaux into the village and beyond. Domaine Rousseau had unlucky timing; they had not long ploughed their Clos St.Jacques – and their soil is also a little different to that of their neighbours – such was this torrent that the rain carried over 200 tonnes of Rousseau’s soil down the hill.

It remains unclear how much rain fell on Gevrey-Chambertin that afternoon – at least 150mm in 45 minutes – more they cannot say as the rain containers were full after 45 minutes! Many cellars in the village were flooded with brown-coloured water.

Before…

After a little tidying!

There was rainfall up and down the Côtes that week but it was highly variable and none of the other storms were as violent as the one which hit Gevrey. But this was to be highly prized rain with some areas staying dry until after the harvest, others saw a modest 10-20mm 5-10 days before their harvest!

Harvesting started for most domaines in the Côte de Beaune in August – maybe a couple of days later than in 2020. The fruit was clean in both colours. If anything, the degrees could be slightly higher in the Côte de Beaune than in the Côte de Nuits – but rarely exceeded 13°. Except: In the Côte de Beaune – reds and whites – much was ready at the same time – so domaines had to work fast “By the 30th the maturities just zoomed up – fortunately we only had the Bourgognes to finish.” Another producer of whites confirming “It was essential to pick on the right day – a lot was ready at the same time in 2022 – so we had to go fast and use the refrigerated containers.” So domaines often prioritised their best wines with good timing to pick and accepted that their last harvested vines often produced higher than optimal sugars.

I tend to take with a pinch of salt the commentary of producers who always had an easy time in their cuveries, particularly in 2022, when many producers of reds noted slow or stuck fermentations and because there wasn’t much malic acid left in the grapes by harvest time, many of the malos were sometimes underway – or even finished – before the sugars had been finished / the wines were dry.

The wines…

It’s a good to excellent vintage in both colours.

What jumps out at you after visiting relatively few domaines is the juiciness of the wines – both colours – a modest zestiness in the whites – less than in 2019 & 2020 – and a fine clarity of mainly red fruit in the similarly juicy reds.

Also in both colours, the difference between the great and the good is less marked – ie the range of quality more compressed than the more variable 2021s, but compressed towards the good end of the scale. This means that the Bourgognes are particularly successful – it’s been a great run of (historically extreme) quality for these regional labels since about 2015 – ie the vintages where ripening was easy.

The only caveat for the Bourgognes – more for the whites – is that some show higher alcohols due to often being picked last as the domaines prioritised their picking logistics.

Whites:

• Ultimately a vintage where I find the very best wines a little behind those of the much smaller vintage of 2021 – not always, but usually.
• But a vintage with lots of consistency – much more than in 2021. But even though it doesn’t taste that way, it’s a big vintage – almost as much as the 2018s so don’t let people kid you that it’s only ‘average.’
• That said, it’s a vintage with super balance between ‘proper’ tension and good concentration. Mainly yellow citrus – not much in the way of lime.
• The flavours are clean and usually juicy finishing.
• Fewer wines of the ‘noble reduction’ style that became a watchword for certain domaines 10+ years ago.
• Some of my favourite whites have been of the more ‘acidulated,’ citrussy, zesty vernacular.
• And, yes, it’s a Montrachet vintage ie one where the Montrachets are usually better than the Chevaliers, unlike in 2018 – a similar volume vintage – where the better energy was to be found in the Chevaliers. It’s a vintage that’s strong on terroir.
• We have super wines are coming from the Mâconnais too – both north and south – with great values (as usual) for the best of the northern Mâconnais i.e the Mâcon-Hyphens.
• I have only one overt negative – the preponderance of hard and metallic aligotés – quite a few great aligotés show that it doesn’t need to be like this!

Who to follow

Of course, I advise you to be guided by the individual notes in my reports – for those excellent and great wines worth searching out – but these were the domaines, price agnostic, that just left me with a feeling of elation when I exited their tastings – wines of emotion:

Alvina Pernot in Puligny-Montrachet
Benoît Moreau in Chassagne-Montrachet
Comtes Lafon in Meursault
Hubert Lamy in St.Aubin but that was 2021s!
Lamy-Caillat in Chassagne-Montrachet
Latour-Giraud in Meursault
Joseph Colin in St.Aubin
Jules Desjourneys in Romanèche-Thorins but that was 2020s!
Nicolas Maillet in Verzé
Rougeot Père et Fils in Meursault
Soufrandière in Vinzelles
Saumaize-Michelin in Vergisson

And my ultimate wine? Probably Bouchard Père’s Montrachet, closely followed by Prieur’s Montrachet!

Reds:

• Darker colours versus 2021 – no surprise – but colours that are generally less intense than 2018-2020.
• Aromatically, pretty red fruits – Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune – occasionally slightly darker in some Volnays (Brouillards) and Côte de Nuits but rarely black or blue fruit. I like the clarity of this fruit and where whole-clusters are used, smoky, gothic interpretations are rare – indeed they provoke surprise – eg DRC. Florals are very common in 2022.
• The acidities are modest – the malic was particularly low at harvest time – but, all things considered, the balance is remarkable as the wines seem fresh, aided by those, very 2022, juicy finishing flavours. They are wines that make you want to take that second sip, glass, or bottle!
• A vintage – like most warm vintages – with great textures. Actual astringency being a different (almost negligable) concept in Burgundy compared to 20 years ago. That said, and despite well-hidden structures, many wines suggest ‘wait 1-3 years.’ A good thing, I think.
• Despite some wines suggesting ‘wait,’ it seems to be a vintage that you could often drink from the first day after bottling – so many are delicious fruit bombs – even very many of the Cortons! The quality is very consistent. But for what you pay now you should not be quaffing these far too easy-to-drink fruit bombs too quickly. 2017 – with a similar harvest volume – was also a delicious ‘early drinker’ but 2022 has a bit more about it, the structures are well-covered but present. As delicious as 2017 remains – 2022 has produced classier wines – though still behind most in 2019. So I place the vintage between the two – but not numerically, as that would be 2018 🙂 and that’s all over the place !!
• It’s another of those vintages where the old concepts of hard or austere can be forgotten for appellations as diverse as Pommard, Corton, Savigny, Pernand, Nuits, Clos de Vougeot and Fixin. Even Auxey-Duresses reds are becoming things of considerable interest.
• If anything, the alcohols are slightly lower in the Côte de Nuits. In this vintage, rare are the wines approaching 14° and 13° is more the norm.
• I previously mentioned some apparent ‘compression’ of the hierarchy from Regional to Grand Cru – but on the better quality side. This was not just good for consistency it was excellent for the quality of the base wine – the regionals – there are many great Bourgognes in 2022.
• And the downside of this ‘compression?’ Of course the differences in the level (appellations) of the wines and the different terroirs or climats are certainly less pronounced than in 2021 but they are there – at a great producer of villages like Tardy in Vosne-Romanée, you can still easily pick the Vosne from the Nuits and the Nuits from the Chambolle!

Who to follow

Again with the same caveats and again semi-alphabetical:
Arlot in Nuits St.Georges
Boris Champy in Nantoux (Both colours!)
Bruno Clair in Marsannay
Chanson Père et Fils in Beaune
Clos des Lambrays in Morey St.Denis
de Villaine (Reds) in Bouzeron
d’Angerville in Volnay
Gérard Mugneret in Vosne-Romanée
Vignes du Maynes in Cruzille
Vougeraie in Premeaux

Just for the record, since I started noting these things, the single most outstanding tasting of my recent tasting seasons have been:
My 2019/2020 Tour – Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2018
My 2020/2021 Tour – Domaine William Fèvre 2019
My 2021/2022 Tour – Château des Bachelards 2019
My 2022/2023 Tour – Domaine Jean Grivot 2021
My 2023/2024 Tour – Domaine Jules Desjourneys 2020

Buying…

And just one last word on buying: The prices are the prices but at least there should be more availability than last year. For all that, it’s probably not going to be less challenging to source the wines – but as every year, don’t get angry about the prices – just buy them if you are a) offered plus b) the price suits, and if it doesn’t, drink some Barolo…