Chassagne-Montrachet is a town synonymous with opulence and richness. Its wines combine weight without heaviness – everything you want in a top class white Burgundy – but usually comes with a hefty pricetag. Roger Belland’s Santenay 1er cru “Beauregard” blanc is not quite as complex or long-lived as a Chassagne premier cru, but for half the price it does an admirable impression, and we think it’s a steal.
In most corners of France, the 2022 vintage was the hottest and driest on record. While this might not portend positively for the future, some wines have undoubtedly benefited. Particularly on the margins – regional level cuvées and lesser-known appellations – the extra heat has made ordinary wines quite impressive.
The 2021 vintage was a tough one in Burgundy. A severe spring frost lowered yields dramatically, and the rest of the season was cool and wet. From a vigneron’s perspective, it was a year to forget – tons of work, for a small crop of limited aging potential.
It’s easy to forget just how big Bordeaux is. The region produces more than a quarter of the wine made in France – more than Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire and Rhône Valleys, and Alsace combined. The top Bordeaux chateaux get most of the press, but there’s an ocean of wine, much of it quite interesting, in a far more reasonable price category.
The Maconnais has long been one of our favorite sources for white Burgundy. This southern sub-region produces wines with an often friendlier character than those of the famous Côte d’Or to the north. Maconnais whites typically have low or no oak, they’re more affordable, and require less cellaring.
Climate change has made most winemakers’ jobs more difficult, but in some sectors it’s brought more good than harm. One area basking in the abundant sun these days is the Côte Chalonnaise, a sub-region of Burgundy just south of the Côte d’Or. Vignerons here do have to manage drought, powerful storms, and other new challenges, but the struggle for ripeness is largely a thing of the past.
Frosts are often the first challenge of a vigneron’s year. Unusually warm springs mean budbreak arrives earlier, and the vines now at risk for overnight frosts for months. Particularly in Chablis, an hour north of the rest of Burgundy, crop loss from frost damage has become a way of life.
In recent years the profile of Chablis has changed a bit. Most cuvées still show the terroir’s classic stony, mineral intensity; but warm summers have added a bit of extra flesh to the wines. Our favorites still taste like Chablis, but are often a bit easier to approach young or on their own.
The Hautes-Côtes de Nuits are a patchwork of vineyards in the hills just west of the famous Côte d’Or. The land is 100 meters higher and the grapes ripens about a week later. With rising temperatures and earlier harvests, this delay has become a real advantage, and the wines from the Hautes-Côtes get better each year.
Nicolas Paget continues to produce excellent, dry, delicious Chenin Blanc from his organically farmed vineyard in the central Loire Valley. The Loire is an epicenter of natural winemaking in France, and Paget’s style is restrained, clean, and vibrant. We find chenin blanc marries particularly well with the earthy complexity that comes from organic farming, and Paget’s wines are obvious successes.
The Northern Rhône Valley is best known for its syrahs from Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, and Cornas – magnificent wines that require diligent cellaring. In their youth they can be finicky and underwhelming, but given time they’re some of the most impressive and complex red wines made anywhere in the world. For those with a dearth of cellar space or patience (no shame) but a taste for Northern syrah, we submit Crozes-Hermitage.
If, as the saying goes, for wine collectors “all roads lead to Burgundy,” then among Burgundy lovers “all roads lead to Vosne-Romanée.” No where else in the region – or for that matter the world – does one find so perfect a combination of limestone, marl and clay. Vosne is Pinot Noir’s ideal environment, and its expressions of the grape are unmatched.
Though it has no Grand Cru vineyards, Meursault’s white Burgundies are some of the most sought after in the world. Classical Meursault is opulent, almost decadent white Burgundy, but always with enough lift and tension to keep it balanced and graceful.
For centuries the Ravaut family has made traditional red and white Burgundies from their small domaine just north of Beaune. Their little-known hamlet of Ladoix sits at the junction between the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. It’s one of the corners of Burgundy where winemakers will somewhat sheepishly admit that, aside from frosts and hailstorms (a big aside), climate change has improved their wines.
We tasted yesterday at the Domaine Gautheron in Chablis. A winemaker’s first task these days – in Burgundy, but particularly in Chablis – is to achieve freshness, and there’s nobody we know better than Cyril. Jasper Morris agrees, writing “Cyril Gautheron is a superb producer making wines in a crisp cool classically Chablis style, which is now really quite hard to achieve in these warmer seasons.”