When did this trend start, in your opinion?
Mid 2010s seems to be a turning point in earlier drinkability, with 17 being the first vintage which was really accessible right away and really staying that way. 15 and 16 were pretty structured vintages so they arenât the best examples, but 17, 19 and 21 are vintages in which I wouldnât hesitate to open almost any wine. Weâve had lots of la Tache, Rousseau chambertin, etc from those vintages and theyâve drank beautifully.
fwiw I had the Trapet Chambertin 2002 and thd 2001 within 3 weeks ⌠2001 perfectly mature Ă point and very complex, 2002 slightly more youthful, less open ⌠but eventually the better wine, with potential âŚ
I doubt both would have given that much pleasure at age 10 or 15 âŚ
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There are no set rule how to enjoy burgundy wines including to drink them young or old. But in order to know each wine, you need to drink the same wine at diffident age and then adjust to it for you own preference : when it is best to open to suit you personal preference.
That being said, I agree entirely with MChangâs comment that the trend of the newer red burgundy were drafted intentional o be more enjoyable at a much younger age - including red Corton - and they could also age well.
Trapet isnât made in anywhere near the same way now. The newer wines are much more accessible early. Iâve drank a ton of older trapet and they can be great wines but also donât have nearly the potential of newer trapet; itâs one of the most improved domaines in burgundy.
It is an interesting question that has been debated for the entire 40-50 years that I have been drinking wines with mixed results.
The first time I really remember this being discussed was when the 1982 Bordeauxs came out (although my father said that the same discussions happened with the 1970s when they first came out). The 1982s were delicious when they were first released. Some critics (particularly Terry Robards of the NY Times) said that they would not âmake old bones.â They were wrong. The well-made 1982s (in those days, there were a lot of underperformers in all wine regions) have aged beautifully and still are excellent today, although most should be drunk now (with notable exceptions). And, the successful wines are much better when mature than they were young
California Cabs also touted themselves and being good young and wines that could age well. Worked for a lot of wineries in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of those wines are still good now. But, by the 1990s and later, with the bigger is better movement in California Cabernet, an awful lot of wines touted to be good young fell apart with age or at best stayed in suspended animation and never really developed. With the successful wineries, no matter how tasty the Cabs were young, they were better with mature.
We had seen this same phenomenon in Bordeaux in the 2000s and beyond with the wines of Rolland and his imitators. Wines from sites that traditionally aged well but now with later harvesting, etc., were a bit raisony and fell apart over time. You can esp. see this with some wines from wineries from 2003 and 2009. It was interesting to me when I was in Bordeaux in 2024 when I told our driver and guide Henri Challeau that I was surprised at how fresh a 2015 Leoville Poyferre tasted. He said that the weather conditions in 2015 were very much like in 2009, but that with the experiences of the 2009s, wineries had learned a lot about how to keep wines fresh in warmer conditions. Also, he said that wineries like Troplong-Mondot that notoriously picked late for maximum ripeness were now picking earlier to retain freshness.
Burgundy had its own Rolland for a time in Guy Accad. A lot of these wines were highly touted and received high scores from Robert Parker/Pierre Rovani. For the most part, the wines where Accad consulted on winemaking did not age well.
But, for the better wineries, even in vintages like 1999 and 2001 when the wines were excellent young, they are so much better and more complete with age. If you can try a good Burgundy from 1999 or 2001 today, they are magical. Over the last few months I have had 2001s from Truchot (GC Combottes) and Clos de Lambrays and they have been wonderful - so much better than the same wines were young, when they were quite nice.
In every case in my experience, the successful wines will taste much better and more interesting with age than they did young. The young wines taste of fruit. Young wines that have beautiful fruit can be quite enjoyable. They really appeal to younger wine drinkers who donât have reliable access to older wines that have been stored properly. I do not agree with those who believe that wines have to taste bad young to age - I think wines that are well balanced can taste good young and can mature. But, these wines when have fruit and other flavors that come together in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts. There is nothing like them in the world of wine.
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The earlier drinkability of some redBurgundy is a complicated phenomenon thatâs a combination of producer choices (many have explicitly made wines to be drunk younger or have made wines differently), winemaking and farming standards rising generally over the past 25 years and global warming. Itâs certainly not a phenomenon just of the past 10 years.
For example, suggesting that 2021 as a vintage is an example of how Burgundy drinks well young now is bizarre - itâs a throwback vintage of the type that producers say they made decades ago.
The early drinkability of grand cru red Burgundy is also in the eye of the beholder; itâs true, for example, that 2017/2019 DRC is currently potable, but how enjoyable those wines are depends on your palate. If youâre also happy drinking Sonoma Pinot, you may enjoy them more; having it blind, several of us called the 2019 DRC Corton rouge a CdP recently. Drinkers train their palates; as some people open more and more young grand crus they become accustomed to that profile, but those who donât may find it less appealing.
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2017 for sure. Iâll go so far as to say I have never had a closed 2017 from the moment they were released, at all levels, villages to GC.
I wonât contradict @MChang â he is a lot more burg focused than I am â although itâs harder for me to say that about 2019 or 2021 (mostly due to smaller sample size) but I have had 2019 and 2021 1ers and GCs that were absolutely ready to go.
I have not had that experience with either 2018 or 2020. IIRC both 2015 and 2016 were small, frost limited vintages that are much more backward, though excellent in the fullness of time.
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What does âready to goâ mean? Drinkable? Enjoyable? Mature?
Young Burgundies have always been enjoyable and delicious for the pure fruit. Some vintages like 2005 close down after a few years, some like 2001, 2007 and likely 2017 never do, but that does not mean that any of these wines are mature at 5-6 years old.
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Drinkable and enjoyable. I donât agree that younger burgundies have always been great when they are young. 09 Roumier Bonnes Mares was completely inaccessible on release as was 14, although based on our tasting a couple weeks ago they havenât evolved all that much since then. The 17 and 21 were much more accessible than those older wines were on and shortly after release.
The wines are different when theyâre young, with some vibrant, hedonistic fruit that you wonât have once theyâre mature wines.
This isnât to say you should drink all your burgundies early, but the wines are great young, and potentially greater with age, however, if you have enough wines thereâs zero harm in drinking them early.
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I donât have anywhere near the Burgundy experience of most here, but in the last few months Iâve had a 2017 Faiveley Latricieres-Chambertin, a Clos des Lambray and a Patrice Rion Clos Vougeot and I felt all of them were quite shut down. Iâd had a couple of bottles of the Faiveley in previous years which were really open.
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Discussions about maturity are interesting because the definitions vary so widely. The wine may be drinkable, even pleasurable after 10 years, but it will never give you the depths and complexity of one with 40 years of cellar age. Itâs just not possible. Drinking a major grand cru with ten years of age, is like listening to Beethoven on an I phone. You might enjoy it but you are missing so much.
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For me, in this context, enjoyable and showing more than simple primary notes. Not the same as fully mature, but a different expression. All of my most transcendent Burgundy experiences have happened to be mature or venerable, but the young ones have often been more than just fun.
YMMV, but I enjoy experiencing the evolution of a wine during its life, as long as it is not impenetrably closed.
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Itâs different, though. We had a 71 Roumier Bonnes Mares at a recent dinner that was the WOTN but didnât have as much fruit left as younger bottlings. It was aromatically amazing and had lots of complexity. We opened 17 and 21s that day that werenât ultimately as good, but had wonderful beautiful pure fruit that certainly werenât present in the 70s and 80s bottlings. I like drinking wines of all maturities, but for different reasons. Once in awhile you do catch an aged bottle with ample beautiful transparent fruit left but itâs certainly not always the case.
Opening some young grand crus can get you an incredible hedonistic burst of pure fruit you wonât get from a young wine. 19 Rousseau Chambertin and CSJ recently were like this. Just incredibly concentrated yet elegant. Will they be better in 25-40 years? Sure, if aged appropriately, they might be. I donât find any harm in drinking now though since I have lots of both of those wines.
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The best wine Iâve had in the last 18 months was the 2019 Lafarge Clos du Château des Ducs - absolutely delicious fruits but so subtle and performed. Iâve had some really incredible aged wines as well - 88 Sassicaia, 85 Lynch, 98 Evangile, 96 PLL, 88 Dunn Howell Mountain but nothing quite hit that Lafarge.
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Agree - itâs about mature aromas and taste, not only about accessability
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2017s are follwing a fairly consistent pattern of Burgund vintages by shutting down; same as 2014s did.
I entirely agree - to the extent your palate leans a lot towards Sonoma pinot, driking young grand cru is a great idea.
I love Sonoma Pinot lol. I really like CA pinot in general though.
I enjoy some hedonism with wine on occasion. It doesnât always have to be some thought exercise for me - although that is fun too.
Still, Iâd have a hard time cracking one of these bottles on release. Probably 10 yrs from vintage before I could open one, although thatâs still pretty young.
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You donât, by chance, exclude Chambertin from this, do you?
Agree with everything in this post.* ⌠Quite strongly, as a matter of fact. Fantastic post, that nearly everyone should heed!
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*except the first sentence. My occasional splurges frequently are wines I plan on cellaring for multiple decades.
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