Right: Romanée-Conti 28 April 2025

A few weeks ago, I read an article that stated ‘it appears the Vosne-Romanée appellation zone has been expanded, incorporating an additional 30 parcels of vineyard into the appellation. In total, these blocks constitute three hectares (7.4 acres).‘

Seemingly, this was a story that had slipped through the net but it was hard to get to the bottom of what was involved. I had to enlist the help of ‘Burgundy Wines,’ to get to the information – and it took them some time too, despite that I was not the only one asking for clarification.

It seems that the actual situation is much more modest than the quote (above) might suggest. I’ve slightly modified the words of their researches, only to make the situation a little more concise:

Whilst the number of ‘modified’ plots is indeed notable — around thirty in total — the actual changes involve only very small areas, often no more than a few rows of vines.
This is part of a broader clean-up of the appellation boundaries which, for Vosne-Romanée, was completed at the end of 2024.
The changes were brought about using a ‘simplified mechanism’ that allows for minor adjustments without triggering a national ‘opposition process.’
Other appellations have already used, or are in the process of using, this same mechanism. These updates typically occur every 10, 15, or 20 years to reflect the evolving realities on the ground.

Four Premier Cru Climats are included in these adjustments:
1. In Vosne-Romanée:
Aux Brûlées is now 4.6311 ha from 4.5408 ha
Aux Raignots/Reignots is now 1.6422 ha from 1.6295 ha
Les Petits Monts is now 3.7283 ha from 3.6803 ha
2. In Flagey-Echezeaux:
Les Beaux Monts is now 7.5628 ha from 7.0589 ha – the largest change
The 4.4514 ha of Beaux Monts in Vosne-Romanée is unchanged

I’ve known for some time that some producers with vines in Beaux Monts have not been declaring part of their production as 1er cru – this should change in 2025. And to underline, there have been no changes made to the boundaries of the Grand Crus.

So that’s what it’s called – I had always assumed that it was just the physical side-effect of opening that 5^th bottle…

BBC – Here

In this case, Beaune – but what better representation of a Leproserie than the magnificent building on the outskirts of Meursault. Next time that you eat at Le Soufflot or Goutte d’Or – take 10 minutes to walk around this splendid relic of a building.

• The Maladière de Beaune: “In the shadow of the Grand Hostel Dieu, many other hospitals existed in Beaune. One of the most important was the Maladière, an institution in charge of one of the most feared diseases of ancient times: leprosy.“

Featured Image courtesy the archives of Beaune

A small compendium of interesting notes form the last couple of weeks:

• “The generous 2022 vintage (around 1.75 million hectolitres, or just over 233 million bottles) has enabled some stocks to be replenished and/or orders to be met pending availability. Export sales continue to grow. Export volumes are down slightly, after a good year in 2022, but remain higher than in the pre-Covid period (2019): +5.3% in volume (first 6 months of 2023 / first 6 months of 2019).”
  BIVB Press Conference 10 Oct.2023
• “Within 3 months, nearly 33,000 visitors have passed through the doors of at least one of our 3 sites. Beaune boasts more of 70% of visitors, with a total of 5,000 all told; Chablis and Mâcon attracted around 4,000 visitors each. A large majority of visitors – a full 80% – were from our region or elsewhere in France; and of the 20% of visitors from abroad, a majority came from either Belgium or Germany. The busiest days, apart from the inaugural weekend, were on the long weekend of 15th August and the European Heritage Days weekend in mid-September.”
  Also the BIVB Press Conference 10 Oct.2023
• A short ‘interview‘ with Sylvie Esmonin
• London’s Bourgogne Week will be held on January 10 at Lindley Hall. “The focus will be on the lesser-known Regional and Village appellations, an important theme that addresses customer demand” – apparently the grand crus no-longer are interesting 😉
• A new video covering Viré-Clessé

This is a tough one, isn’t it?

• Can you ethically drink Romanée-Conti?

I always review wines in the same way – is this a great Bourgogne? Or is this a great grand cru? I never tell you that a particular wine is worth a special search unless it is on another level to ‘the average’ – even ‘excellent’ doesn’t cut it! Despite that, over the last few years, the cuvée of Romanée-Conti has consistently got my thumbs up – even at the latest price. From memory, the 2020 was close to €3,000 a bottle – assuming you were allowed to buy even a single bottle from one of the official importers.

The (grey) market price for that bottle is already 4-5 times the initial purchase price – and who knows the price in a restaurant! Because 500 cases for the whole world are clearly insufficient to meet the clamour to buy.

In a different life, I have bought and drunk Romanée-Conti, I think the 2000 vintage cost me only 800 Swiss francs or roughly €500 at the time – but my earnings allowed me to do this. Today, even the entry price is beyond my personally imposed buying limit – but, given my age and the ‘above average’ size of my cellar, the volume of my personal purchasing has shrunk to such an extent that I’m, anyway, no longer on the list of ‘allowed’ buyers.

Now we come to the use of the word ‘ethics.‘

When I recommend wines, it is done so purely with quality in mind. Simply put, that’s because everybody’s concept of value is different – you cannot have a benchmark yes/no ‘value’ for wine for people of different backgrounds – even when a bottle may cost more than most people pay for a car! Ethics is a barbed word and it implies yes/no or black/white – and life is not a binary choice. Describing drinking Romanée-Conti as unethical would suggest that the search for the best (in any walk of life) should be cancelled. So what then of the vineyard? Should it be uprooted? If so, does that mean that Musigny or La Tâche would be next? The logical extension of this would be that Burgundy should blend everything and only produce Côteaux Bourguignone…

The search for the best in any endeavour is costly, be that cars, watches, HiFi, computers Hermes bags – you name it – and yes, wine. In all things, it is about personal choice. I have my own – personal – rules but ethics is an unhelpful word – it is one to avoid…

• A little Clos des Lambrays info
• Tastevinage – the ‘LAUREATS’ of the 112th Tastevinage Blind tasting are in – here!
• Each year, on the 4th weekend of October, Auxey-Duresses and its neighbour Melin open their cellars to the public – with a free shuttle bus between the two villages:
  Tasting from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., October 21 and 22. You buy a glass for €5 allowing you to taste in all the cellars marked with the “Coup d’Œil, Coup de Cœur” logo. There will be food (and other) stalls and a cooperage demonstration by the Billon cooperage
• Not a rosé! If you can’t afford the wine of Comte Liger-Belair – what about its rose?

It’s a while since I posted an ICYMI – years! – but the desert of interesting new articles has recently been punctuated by a few that are of interest – in no small way aided and made more entertaining by the comments of such arch provocateurs as Guffens and Essa – look out for that sly fox’s (Patrick Essa) comments in one of Benjamin Lewin’s articles!

• Is Aligoté the Future of White Burgundy? – Benjamin Lewis
• Burgundy Diary 2023: Vintage Extremes – Benjamin Lewis
• Burgundy Looks to its Old Age – Vicki Denig
• Burgundy will drop and it will fall on the Mâconnais – Patrick Schmitt

Enjoy 🙂

Whilst tasting in Beaune this week, I met a saint.

This particular saint – let’s call him Vince – has had a colourful recent history but has now fully returned to his day job.

Vince (right) heralds from 1940s Beaune and his day job is to sit in the cuverie of a winemaker for 1 year, occasionally to be transported on the shoulders of locals – typically in freezing, wet, January weather. His home address changes each year when he moves to a new cuverie. But in theory, he’s there to make sure that pest, pestilence, frost and hail do not beset the vineyards of Beaune. Some years he’s less effective than others!

Vince got caught up in some local difficulties around 2002. Apparently, two of Beaune’s winemakers had significant disagreements, the upshot being that one of those winemakers could ‘no-longer find‘ Vince. This was obviously a bit of a problem for locals who didn’t want pest and pestilence etcetera, etcetera, in their vineyards – and of course for those other people who simply enjoyed raising Vince onto their shoulders in cold and rainy January processions. Eventually, in 2005 a new Saint was employed – also let’s call him Vince-2 – to take on 1940s-Vince’s rôle.

After about 15 years, 1940s Vince was found – it was a miracle!

But now there were two Beaune Vinces – what should be done? Eventually, it was decided that 1940s Vince should return to the full-time rôle of wet and cold January processions and trying to keep on top of the weather – oh, and the pests. Don’t, however, feel sorry for 2005 Vince – he also found a full-time job – he now smiles at all the visitors in Beaune’s Musée du Vin!