Very interesting, did Forey change their style? I’ve always found their village wines need 15 years to show well, kind of hard and ungiving early on. Or is it just a product of the vintage?
Sounds fabulous. She is a great winemaker.
14.5% in the Hautes Côtes! Even in 2018 you had to work to do that…
2018 whites are generally pretty average in alcohol levels, since yields were enormous and people picked quite early. But, of course, there were exceptions…
Hi Peter,
I have only been acquainted with Forey wines in the last 12 months, so can’t really comment, but I must say despite teh accessibility of this wine I think it will be really wonderful and better in 15 yrs.
Thank you. I guess I will have to try them out when they arrive. Biggest order was Clos St. Denis which rarely gets reviewed anyway. I am hopeful- Drouhin seems to pull off good results in vintages like this. Fingers crossed.
If 2018 is like 2009 I would be happy because many 2009 are way more civilized as they had been early on. And I liked the wines young also. Of course not all of them but most. Frankly I do not understand that fear when the fruit is ripe. If the evolution of the vines is blocked due to water stress that is a different story. But even many 2003 red Burgundies were and are fine.
The best recent vintage I have tasted is 2016. That is really a classic vintage with ripe fruit and good but not too much acid. The same in Bordeaux and Tuscany. Delicious. But I like 2009 too.
I have hard times to understand why people prefer 2008 Burgundies in comparison to 2009 i.e. But ok – that is life.
Some 08s were fabulous but others are a bit hollow and too acid driven. Some 09s were over ripe and showed hard tannins but in general I would rather have a cellar full of 09s. The one thing that makes riper vintages so good is the enhanced quality at lower levels where full ripeness is achieved whereas in cooler years the grapes struggle to ripen. The Lucien Jacob that I wrote about earlier could be a premier cru cote de units from a cooler vintage for a quarter of the price. Works for me
That’s funny, I recently opened a 2018 Didier Fornerol Cote de Nuits Village where the front label had a little white sticker placed over the original alcohol percentage and the back label claimed 14.1%.
![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
One of the brokers I buy from in Burgundy sells a lot to US gray market importers, and he now mentions in the subject line of his email offers if the alcohol level is labeled at more than 14%…
For a minute I didn’t think I’d have much to contribute to this thread but I realised I have looked at a quite few '18 reds at the Marchand & Burch 2018 Burgundy tasting a couple weeks ago here in Perth. I don’t expect these wines are made differently than Marchand-Tawse '18s, but I could easily be wrong. Regardless, 12 red burgs were served at the event, from their entry level Bourgogne up to a handful of 1ers.
From a broad brush stroke my impressions are very similar to others that posted here. It’s a warm vintage but I didn’t detect overripe fruit or any jammy wines. I did find that the wines that carried less or no stem inclusion were oozing with red fruit and much more generous when compared to those with stems. I can also see how the ripeness of the wines could lead some to feel they’re more comparable to the new world instead of Burgundian but my feel is that they still have that core of tension that many to most new world wines don’t show, at least to my palate.
And while it’s not the direct topic of the thread, they also poured a single '18 white Burgundy, a SLB Les Vergelesses 1er which was absolutely delicious and had good richness and tension/verve for miles. Granted it was served after two Great Southern Chardonnays so the competition wasn’t too stiff. On the flip side I had a '18 white Bourgogne from an ‘up and coming’ producer later in the week after the tasting and I was a bit surprised at just how broad shouldered it was.
I just went and collected my first of the '18s today from the distributor, mostly Bouchards. Didn’t buy too much of the vintage at all but I’m looking forward to check in on a bottle or two in the next few weeks once they’re settled in the cellar.
Indirectly related to this thread, but I’d be curious to know which wines have been confirmed to be held back by estates compared to the release date of their other wines. Mugnier Musigny is a known one, but Roulot is now also holding back their Meursault Perrières in 2018. I am not aware of others.
Thanks for the report Andrew and interested if you crack a couple of the Bouchards. A couple of further data points, opened an '18 Lucien Jacob Chambolle-Musigny on the weekend that was pushing surmaturite and was not a patch on the Savigny-les-Beaune which was half the price. Also opened an '18 Christophe Chablis ‘Mont de Milieu’ 1er that was very ripe, quite yellow and lacked spine. The '17 of this wine was spectacular FWIW.
Opened up a 2018 Chantereves Bourgogne tonight and if this is what 2018 is looking like I’ll definitely be in the market. its got some fruit for sure but its well balanced and has plenty of acidity to carry through. No overwhelming heat or alcohol (13% on the label).
To be fair, Chantereves basically embodies elegance and restraint so I don’t know if they’re indicative of general trends. Just bought a couple bottles of the '18 Chard from them myself and will report back!
A couple of weeks ago I popped open a Raphet Chambolle Village Bussieres. 14.5% abv. While expecting a fruit bomb, it was dark and tannic. I rather enjoyed it.
Had a 2018 Caroline Morey Chassagne Rouge last night. Ripe raspberry and cherry fruits. Plenty of flesh with a nice cool stoniness underneath. Delicious!
Coche Perrières and Corton-Charlemagne. Raphaël would like to get to a point where those wines are released ten years after the vintage.
that is true… they are one of my favorites. at least this confirmed that I should be safe buying THEIR wines for 2018! haha
Quick question folks - would you decant the 2018 red burgs, and if so, how long?
Thanks.
I wouldn’t. It wont do much.