If you were to focus on one of these vintages, which would it be?
Primarily interested in village and 1er cru in CdB and then wines from Chalonnaise and Macon…
Would your answers be different if focusing on Chablis?
TIA!
Don’t know much about Chablis specifically, but for CdB, 20 could be the vintage of the decade and that’s saying a lot against 14/17. I don’t think 21/22/23 are nearly that amazing.
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but which decade??
20 does seem to be the standout. have had a few village level chablis from 2022 and quite impressed.
I had a bunch of 2020 white Burgundy at the Paulee Grand Tasting in NYC in 2023 and had some more at Armand Heitz when I was in Burgundy in the summer of 2023. I liked most of the whites I tasted and thought they were better than the 2020 reds I have had, which seemed very inconsistent.
While I have loved the few 2021 reds and 2022 red barrel samples I have had, I have not had any 2021 whites and only one 2022 white. The one 2022 white I have had was a Droin Chablis Montée de Tonnerre. I thought the wines was very well balanced and had nice flavors but lacked some intensity and finish. This was the first wine I have had from Droin so hard to compare it to other vintages. For that reason, also hard for me to predict how the wine will age.
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I can’t speak to 21 or 22, but I have tried quite a few 2020 Chablis (Patrick Puize, Raveneau, & Dauvissat) and they have all been outstanding. Picking up those marine and iodine notes on the nose, and great acidity. It’s not quite 2014, but from what I’ve tasted I think it may be better than 2017. Malic acid was low, but tartaric acidity was high and all the wines I’ve tried have shown great backbone and tension.
20 is the answer IMO.
I know 21 was a very difficult vintage in Chablis in terms of frost/harvest size - Burgundy on the whole, but Chablis especially - but the wines that I’ve actually tried thus far (Louis Michel and Favre off the top of my head) have been excellent.
2020 all day. 2021 is decent but the pricing is offensive. I haven’t had any 2022s yet but would have a hard time justifying buying them in quantity right now when there are still plenty of 2020s floating around in the market.
2020 have been drinking well from the CdB - lots of character and full-bodied without being huge wines. 2021 was a difficult vintage in the CdB with huge losses due to frost and weather. Some have been absolutely brilliant, some have appeared quite worked over and certainly came out alright on the other side. 2022 I have limited tasting of finished wines, but having tasted in Chablis in October 2022, the wines were quite nice with good weight - most had moved through ML already by then! 2020’s almost across the board are satisfying. 2021 good producers made precise wines that are delightful (hard to begrudge price hikes when you’re looking at 20% of a normal crop). 2022’s are a wait and see!
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my experience can fit in a thimble but I was recently in Chablis and everyone was waxing poetic about the '20 vintage.
I have limited data points to provide (and limited white Burg experience), but here you go:
I thought the '21 PYCM collection was excellent. En Remilly and the Chassagne 1er Cru (I believe PYCM had to blend most of his Chassagne 1er Crus into a single cuvee because of the short vintage) were standouts, just beautiful tension in both wines with the CM 1er Cru having just a touch more amplitude and weight. Champlots was also good – still a touch round and oily for my taste, but enough acid to balance that out (much better than a fatter and broader '16 Champlots I had a couple of months ago). Bourgogne Blanc and Monthelie also good and relative values, though I was a little underwhelmed by the village Chassagne.
I also really liked the '21 collection from Sylvain Pataille. The Chardonnay Rose (not a rose wine, just the name of the chardonnay variety) was racy, mineral driven, and concentrated, with a long, saline finish. His aligotes were also excellent, and remarkably different from each other (some more fruit driven and powerful while others were leaner, linear, and mineral driven), but all having a pronounced saltiness on the finish like the Chardonnay Rose.
A '21 Jadot Clos de la Garenne (Domaine Duc de Magenta) was also wonderfully balanced, lively, and delicious.
I enjoyed the '22 Paul Pernot collection, though they definitely seemed richer and less acid-driven than the '21 PYCMs and '21 Patailles (though this could just be a producer thing – I don’t drink that much white Burg). The '22 Batard-Montrachet, unsurprisingly, was a standout and was the most complete of the wine, with power, concentration, yet balanced with elegance, with the oak well integrated. Folatieres, in comparison, opened beautifully, but kind of felt a little short on the finish, while the Champs Canet and Clos de la Garenne were slightly less impressive, but still good (a bit on the richer side, but still decent acidity – I lost my notes so this is all from memory at this point). The oak on the village Puligny stuck out too much for my taste (I preferred the Bourgogne Blanc).
'20 Genot-Boulanger Puligny 1er Cru La Garenne was beautifully balanced and lively with delicious stone fruit, minerals, and acidity. I don’t drink much white Burg, but a generous friend opened this for me and it got me reconsidering that position.
Maybe I just lucked out, but I haven’t really had a '21 I disliked – perhaps they are a bit leaner than the '22s and '20 I have had recently, but they seem very energetic in comparison. I’ve really liked them.
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Just got back from Burgundy and 2022s are gorgeous and there are more of them. I’m buying Chablis and CdB equally. I had a lot of good 2021s too, but there is more variability - a classic vintage, however.
I like 2020s too - I think the 2022s are just better - maybe one strategy is to buy 2020s at better prices once people get a wind of 2022s.
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For more on 2020s, see
Grand Tasting at the Paulee - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
Relatively short visit to Burgundy - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
Good luck!
Hey, I got an offer for Raveneau 2020 MdT yesterday for only $399 - so prices are PLUNGING!
that’s pretty good!
i have been seeing a lot more sales recently at retail. 2nd tier burgs are out there for release pricing
I have more experience with Chablis from 20 and 21 than CdB, but frankly I think both vintages are very worthy. I’d focus more on producers and particular bottlings you like, from either vintage. No experience yet with 22.
Yes, I’m only half kidding - it is the lowest price I’ve seen in some time. I have seen lots of sales recently too. Three good vintages in a row. The 2022 reds are quite good too. I would buy them over 2020 in a heartbeat. There were reds I tasted that were just bottled and I thought - I could drink this tonight - the fruit was that good.
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Hi Yaccov,
If focusing on 1er cru in CdB and then wines from Chalonnaise and Macon, 2020 is a wonderful, deep and dense vintage that should age well. 2021 is much more variable. There is a strange, almost tropical/gooseberry note in some of the wines, so try before you buy. The good wines are really good. 2022 is the vintage that could surprise on the up-side, much like 2018. There was a lot of wine made and they are ripe. I do like the balance of the wines I have tasted, and I suspect these wines will tighten and be more expressive with a year or two in bottle. Buy plenty of 2022’s.
cheers
Jeremy
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I liked the few red Burgundies I have had from 2022 much better than those from 2020. The wines had a lot of richness, but also had good balancing acidity.
From only a thimbleful of experience, I really like 2020 white Burgundy. I just might like 2021 even better. It seems like a throwback vintage to the 70s, when white Burgundy had acidity. The very few 2022s I’ve had have seemed a little soft and overripe. OTOH, I’ve really liked the few 2022 reds I’ve had; opulent and balanced. I’ll be buying 2022 reds of 2020s or 2021s (but I’ll take 2019 reds over any of the three).
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