The 2009 Burgundy thread!

WINE TALK
1

eBob has one, why not us? Well, here it is… this could probably serve as both a “news” thread and a “what did you buy” thread.

On the news front… well, anyone have any more news? Bored to tears twiddling my thumbs while the world goes gaga over 2009 Bordeaux. When exactly will the 2009 Burgundy futures campaign start?

On the what did you buy front… 9 bottles from Maison Ilan, as previously mentioned. :slight_smile:

2

Does burgundy even have a futures campaign? I’ve not really seen one. Perhaps prearrival from wine stores who may or may not have been promised the wines, but I’ve not heard of futures (hospice wines excepted).

3

The only 2009 Burgundy offer I’ve seen so far is from Vins Rare, which is offering Bouchard’s Volnay Caillerets Cuvee Carnot for $70, Beaune Greves Enfant d’ Jesus for $90 and Clos de Beze for $225. It looks like the Beze is sold out. This offer is way on the early end, right?

4

Got to try a few 09s from barrel with I was in Burgundy. Dark fruited, fluffy, fruity and yummy! Should be quite a hedonistic vintage. Will probablly be a vintage I buy heavily at the village level.

5

Most definitely. See http://www.bbr.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, a British merchant - they have 2009 Bordeaux and 2008 Burgundy up. I recall the 2005 Burgundy offers only starting to roll in around December 2006 in the US so we may be waiting awhile here. Big ballers will be able to snap up cases from the British merchants much earlier no doubt.

6

Ditto on the Vins Rare Bouchard offer, I easily passed… But there will be other estates where I will have a hard time passing on and if prices get silly on the grand cru’s I will have to get a side job of some sort or buy village/premier cru’s…

7

What makes everyone confident that 09 Burgundy will be another 05 or 99? I remember reading that the folks at Dujac felt better about their 08s than their 09s. Or are they just an outlier?

8

Received an offer for Chateau de la Tour yesterday…

9

2008 will maybe hit higher notes (for the acid lovers) but 2009 should have more ripe wines across the spectrum. Of course I am making this statement based on a very small sample size…but I did get to try 2008 and 2009 versions of some wines. The 2009s were richer, fatter and had alot more dry extract. 2008s seem more racy, floral and ethreal but at the expense of mid-palate richeness that 2009s may have.

10

There is hype among consumers and retailers already. Alan Meadows also hinted on how great the vintage is in the last issue or the one before… I think prices will be higher than 08 but not reach the pricing frenzy that occurred with the 05’s, we shall see…

11

I think 09 may be the first vintage I’m going to dip into Burgundy. Any strategies, thoughts about an approach? Relative novice for the region…

12

buy premier cru wines from top producers. Don’t spend your money–unless you have a lot of it–on grand cru wines you don’t know if you like. And be prepared to wait 20 years to catch most at their peak. And buy more than you think you want because you’ll find that you never think you bought enough . . .
alan

13

Buy 1 or 2 wines from lots of different producers and use the opportunity to discover wich producers you enjoy. There is a huge range of wine styles in burgundy. Search out and find the ones you like. What I or anyone else likes won’t nessisarily be what you like.

14

Ryan C. ,

We are very up on our 08s, but that doesn’t mean that I am down on the 09s! Speaking specifically of our wines, I think that 08 is a vintage of great purity and transparency, in the’ mold of 01’ or 93’, albeit with perhaps more concentration and length.

As far as 2009 is concerned, I was recommending people not get too caught up in the hype (and this sort of thread is very much about hype). The vintage is good, no question, and there are certainly some great wines out there. But I am keen to avoid being one of those producers who cries out “vintage of the century” several times a decade. 2005 made a large number of wines that will last 40+ years in my mind and I think I am being conservative. My father and I have not seen any other vintage like it in that respect. 99’ and 09’ are perhaps more similar. As Berry commented, the wines have a lot of dark fruit and ripeness, plenty of sex appeal. I suspect that they will age gracefully and procure great pleasure. No doubt this sounds like faint praise, but I think that this is all very positive. There can only be so many vintages of the century. And most of the wines that Burgundy fans enjoy are not “best of century candidates”.

Call this post a curmudgeonly example of euro restraint.

15

I have not tasted a single 2009 Burg. I will do it in summer.
I will not buy anything before tasting - except the one producer who sends out his offer usually in June … and which is one of the most consistent one (reg. quality and moderate pricing).
What I´ve heard: it will be a very good to excellent vintage, but not necessarily better than 2005/02/99 … balance is crucial between ripeness and acidity …

16

I think Jeremy S nailed it from what I heard (he should know…plus his English is impressive).

To summarise [drinkers.gif] :

2008 is good because it follows the every 3 years rule (93, 96, 99, 02, 05, 08…)

2009 is good because, somehow, they got it wrong with their arithmetics (and they also need to get it right because Bordeaux made again a vintage of the century…)

Jeremy, where can we get your 08s? Had an excellent chambolle 2002 some time ago.

17

Jeez.
This is going to cost me some money.
The 1993 Clos St Denis from your dad Jeremy is to this day a benchmark wine from that vineyard to me.
The 1993 Clos de la Roche is one of my all time favorites too from Dujac.
2001 is no slouch year.
Thanks for the insight.

18

Thanks so much for the response–very interesting! And I wasn’t meaning to imply that you were down on your 09s, just that you were very enthusiastic about the 08s. As Don said, this will make the 08/09 cycle an expensive one for me. And also as he said, if 08s are anything like 93 and 01, then it’s a vintage I’m destined to love.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

19

well, there’s never been a bad vintage chez Dujac! Thanks for your contribution and hello to you and your family.
alan

20

It is almost inevitable that the first vintage you dip into Burgundy you will buy a lot of wines you wish you hadn’t - Burgundy preferences are so personal and there are stylistic divisions that are impossible to glean from reviews or even from your own first impressions. So, my advice would be to start sampling '04s through '07s now so when the '09s come up for sale you will have a better idea of which terroirs and producers tend to work for you.