2018 Red Burgs - time to crack a few!

It looks to be a pretty strong vintage with good ripeness and fleshy wines.

Here’s one to start the ball rolling.

2018 Forey Pere et Fils Vosne-Romanee
Lovely dark cherry and raspberry fruit, with whiffs of violets and some subtle spice. Texture is great, nicely ripe tannins, make the palate silky and elongated. It is very, very accessible at this early juncture and is a real joy to drink.

I am waiting for my Arnoux allocation to get a read on the vintage, I tried a Leroux Bourgogne Rouge and I found it too ripe and a little bit modern for me (not over ripe or roasted, but just a bit over worked for a BR).

I have some Leroux BR from 15-17 but can’t actually recall trying one. The 17 Bourgogne Blanc however is sensational and I went back and bought some more of those.

I’ve tried a couple of 18s and confirmed my suspicions from barrel that rather than a strong vintage, it’s an unpredictable minefield. One producer I’ve been buying for years made wines that made me think of Sonoma Pinot. It’s been a very easy pass for me, especially given the tariffs.
I think for people who prefer a riper style, or are looking to dip a toe into Burgindy from California, this is the right vintage.

Have opened a couple at home out of curiosity before beginning to taste in earnest at the domaines… 2018 Duroché LSJ showed nicely, very perfumed and pretty and elegant, though with the sun-kissed core of fruit that is one of the vintage’s signatures. Bouchard’s emblematic cuvées turned out well. And last week, on the white side of the ledger, the Paul Pillot Caillerets really delivered, a serious wine with considerable upside. Taken as a whole, it’s not my favorite recent vintage though, that’s clear.

I’ve actually liked the whites better than the reds, which I did not expect! Paul Pillot, Dancer and Carillon, for example, all made really nice wines.

I’ve been a fan of the ones I’ve opened so far, mostly Marc Roy.

Since you are being politique, I won’t guess. But if I did, given the house style, I understand why 2018 is not the vintage to buy.

Actually probably not who you think! I am not a fan of making negative comments about good producers; these are people I’ve met, whose wines I generally really like, and it’s their livelihood. Besides which, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure some people will really like the wines.

Hi William, is your comment driven because of the overall ripeness of the vintage? Or it is other factors? Curious!

thnx Brodie

In short, yes. You just really taste the sunshine. The 2018 vintage experienced 290 more sunlight hours (i.e. about 30% more) between May and September than the average. Plenty of producers overcame the risk of making rustic monsters, but it’s much harder to overcome the sucrosity of fruit that I’d be inclined to attribute to all that sunshine. It wouldn’t surprise me if the better wines become much more classic with 15 years bottle age, but 2018 reds are not generally wines I’m going to be reaching for to drink young—which simply reflects my personal taste.

Funny, I felt this way about 2009 en primeur and for a year or two after. But, IMHO they came around nicely, though we really won’t know for another five or ten years. I learned my lesson and had more faith in 2015.

I suspect 2018 is in a different league altogether.

My only 2018s, Rossignol Trapet, are stuck in England until tariffs are over. I bought lightly, only Rossignols as I knew it was a big, heady vintage, not usually my style.

Normally I pull out a couple of bottles to try on arrival, to determine when to drink. Sadly that is not happening.

I’ve really enjoyed a lot of 09s lately, even higher level grand cru, but certainly you won’t be getting tertiary characteristics yet. I think a lot of them are drinking fantastically.

I’m pretty high on 18, but I also like the style. 19s sound like they will be tremendous.

So far, what I have tasted in red from 2019 is very exciting indeed… I tasted Cécile Tremblay’s wines the other day (she moves her barrels up a level in the cellar after harvest, before bottling next year, so I like to go early before the lees are disturbed by that operation) and it’s clearly her best vintage to date.

Anyone have initial thoughts on Drouhin? My only high end red 2018 acquisitions to date.

Tom, Claude Kolm has reviewed these

Any other vintage you would compare 19 to?

I think a minefield is a good description. I have been tasting at several domaines last year and there were soms surprises in both directions. Very often I tasted wines with alcohol heat in the finish with insufficient amounts of fruit to backen the alcohol. And the difficult thing was that at some wineries this was 0 or 1 cuvée, in others 4 or 5 cuvées so tasting is important in 2018.

2018 Fabien Coche Bourgogne Rouge
Lovely succulent red and black fruits, some oak notes adding sweetness. texture is good and has reasonable structure and density. Very good drink and makes me think '18 is agood restaurant vintage with teh lower level wines performing well, with ripeness almost a given.