As some of you might know (or have noticed), I’ve been traveling for 18 months already, touching base only very infrequently with friends and the whole wine community in France, therefore I have to admit I have not been paying attention to the last few vintages as much as I should have. I’ll start by recapping what I remember from the red burg vintages starting with 1999, and go fish for information about the recent ones. Of course as can only be the case when whole vintages are characterised, there’s going to be some generalisations and what not.
- 1999 - a classic vintage in virtually all villages, touted as the best of the last decade with 2005. Not sure there’s really much more to say about this.
- 2000 - not sure about CdB (not my strength) but in CdN the wines are often seen as being more supple than in other vintages, meaning they should be approachable earlier than usual. I have found this to be right as far as regional or village wines are concerned - on the basis that I’m the kind of guy who will wait 6-8 years for Bourgogne and 10+ years for villages. But I still see no reason to hurry through them. With 1ers and GC I have not found 2000 particularly approachable early, e.g. a 2000 Roumier BM was just as tight, dense, and in its infancy that one could expect - and right up there as far as quality is concerned. Same for e.g. his Amoureuses.
- 2001 - again not sure about CdB, in CdN seen as a classic vintage, straight, pure, good expression of terroir and nice potential for aging. I haven’t really found a reason not to be a big fan of the 2001 from the CdN
- 2002 - considered to be stronger in CdB than CdN, although I have a soft spot for the plush quality that the CdN showed (plush in the context of Burgundy, obviously). Not sure how others feel about this - I’d say I take a lot of pleasure drinking those but since it’s pretty much true of all vintages I guess it won’t really help!
- 2003 - the most controversial vintage of the decade for sure, the heat wave didn’t get along very well with the nature of Burgundy in general. Are they too rich, too “jammy”, imbalanced? Are they burgs not for Burg lovers? Tough to say, to each his own and all that. There are definitely some wines I didn’t like too much, but since I buy the same stuff year in and year out I’ll wait it out.
- 2004 - another vintage where I didn’t follow CdB too much, CdN was decent but with the green problem popping here and there about as randomly as premox… ah well… from Roumier I liked the Bourgogne and Chambolle I had so far, but the Cras was really marked by the green streak. Another vintage where crossing fingers will be crucial.
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2005 - great vintage across the board, somewhere between greatest of the decade and one of the greatest ever… it’s true the wines have this “air of perfection” about them (expressed in the typical paradox of richness and purity) - there’s just so much consensus on this vintage that it’s not even fun. Will be remembered as the vintage when the trophy wines prices really went through the roof. The Musigny at Mugnier was spectacular, too bad there’s none in my cellar, especially since half the buyers won’t be in a position to taste it before this wine comes around (sorry guys, couldn’t help it
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- 2006 - ??? I visited my usual producers but at this point I know I will like what they put in the bottle so it doesn’t really help me with the big picture… any info welcome. I liked what I tried - the Gevrey at M-G was great, among others.
- 2007 - ??? pretty much the same as 2006 except I had only one day in Burgundy and therefore went only to Roumier and Mugneret-Gibourg - great wines as usual, not enough to form my own idea of the vintage. I came in without any preconception and was more than pleasantly surprised. I will like these wines a lot.
- 2008 - ok here we’re all going out on a limb since nobody has tasted them yet for sure. I should have more time come the fall to go and organise some visits. In the meanwhile any early reports about the growing season, harvest, weather… ?
Your turn.