Burgundy 2023 En Primeur

By our man in the vineyard Kenny Stewart – Brunswick Director and Fine Wine Buyer.

‘Harmonious, flattering, vivid, bright, charming.’ These are the words we used frequently on our longest Burgundy tasting trip to date to describe the wines of 2023. Having visited more growers than ever before on our travels, it is a vintage to arrest preconceptions – less homogenous than 2022 certainly and one that necessitated control of yields and picking times, as is becoming ever more crucial.  But it is a year that produced oodles of healthy fruit come harvest time and one in which the best growers could prove the old Burgundian truism that ‘producer, producer, producer’ is more important than simple sunshine or rainfall statistics. The best producers, as you will find, have fashioned charming reds of pure pleasure and succulent red berry fruits and whites, when picked in good time, offer elegance, brightness, fresh saline signatures and excellent transparency.

2023 is vintage that might have been hard to imagine 25 years ago and yet no less welcome for it. 1999 produced high yields in Burgundy terms and has been subsequently recognised as one of the benchmark, must-have vintages of all time. That vintage was a high-point in an era of leaner, firmer years like 1998, 2001, 2004 & 2008 that seemed the norm in the cool, marginal continental Northern European climate that is Burgundy.  But we have become so used to warm, ‘solaire’ vintages these days – 2015, 2018 – 2020 & 2022  – that the open charm and sheer joy of some of these 2023 wines might be lost on people who now might confuse a modern red Burgundy with a broad-shouldered Syrah. Which would be a pity and to miss the point somewhat, wouldn’t it!?

Instead 2023 marks a return to succulence, prettiness and sheer charm that the once defined the great wines of the region.  It might find opposition from ‘greatest ever vintage’ collectors, lately weaned on the run of climate-change record breakers, but for us the 2023’s, in the right hands, offers some superb, instantly loveable wines that could only come from this amazing wine region.

It is the kind of year where average temperatures, as they are across the world these days, were high but actually moderate during the crucial grape growing period in August. Well, until the harvesters had to be protected from the sun in early September where early morning picking was the order of the day and chilled storage had to be on hand.  Good weather for flowering, a warm not excessive June and July were followed by a suddenly and mainly cooler month of August with fresher nights leading to fresher wines when the harvest date was correct. The most thoughtful growers brought their harvest forward by up to a week when the temperatures rose to startling levels in early September demanding quick action. But that’s the kind of thing to separate the best from the rest and why the ‘producer’ mantra is so key. Rainfall across the growing season was moderate, well-timed and generally welcomed so that hydric stress was never a factor and in conjunction with healthy flowering produced plentiful quantities of impeccable grapes. Grapes sunburned in the last hot stretch before picking could potentially pose problems but the quantities produced also allowed producers to discard whatever was deemed inferior.  Furthermore, the quality conscious growers had already either pruned hard, or green harvested (twice) to control the yields of the infamously fickle Pinot Noirs. Chardonnay growers faced less of a challenge as higher yields are less of an issue but there were clear differences between the most fastidious growers and those who hesitated in calling in the picking teams. Perfectionist, semi-legendary figures like Henri Boillot and Jacques Carillon don’t let the grass grow under their feet – brilliant, promising wines resulted – surprise, surprise.  Along with Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau at Michel Bouzereau and the exciting new team at Guy Bocard, all achieved beautifully balanced, sleek wines with thrilling freshness and silky textures along with moderate natural alcohol levels ranging 12.6-13.3 – just about perfect! Elsewhere – perhaps among negociants or lesser growers – the vintage could produce heavier-bodied whites more akin to the 2016’s.

The same sort of alcohol levels are the order of the day in the red wines –  juicy, fresh wines with fine tannins. They are nothing like the ‘broad-shouldered’ wines of say 2018, a not totally dissimilar warm year, superficially. There is more immediate charm with the 2023 reds, acidities like last year are based mainly on tartaric and handfuls of fresh raspberries, cherries and wild strawberries to be found in many a fruit profile. The best domaines produced sculpted wines with absolute discernibility of terroir across the cuvees. Additionally, the traditional classification pyramid from regional to the greatest Grand Crus is more clearly defined than in a vintage like 2020 where the sheer fruit levels can suffuse the notion of terroir or progression of quality in young wines. It is safe to say that with 2023 the wines show all that is unique and detailed about the map of Burgundy.

 Today’s Burgundy growers and winemakers are adapting to changes in climate and the ones that we visit are among the most conscientious and reactive in the world. Increasing moves to organic, biodynamic practices are themselves signifiers of a thoughtful, striving class of individuals. We are blessed to deal with some of the best and as with viticulture their winemaking has been tweaked to deal with what the changing climate throws at them. Even more interesting as the market move towards brighter, fresher wines 2023 shows that there are many different ways to skin a cat, so to speak! Entirely different approaches can lead to equally successful wines. Those who favour whole bunches (Heresztyn-Mazzini, Chandon de Briailles, Sylvie Esmonin) broadly kept to their principles in 2023 and fresh, floral, lifted wines were the result. Almost counterintuitively a grower like Nicolas Groffier decided to destem entirely his crop – a complete reversal to normal – and yet the wines are more charming than ever!  Memorable results achieved, different route to achieve it. We are less able to explain this than the growers but the ends justify the means, and the ethereal beauty of wines from the best growers are plainly recognisable in the tasting glass.

2023 is the latest in a line of unique vintages. The annual trick is to capture nature’s growing season and quite literally bottle it. The terms succulence, brightness, vibrancy, kept appearing in our notes along and so often the keyword ‘balance’.  This last factor should allow readers to buy with confidence when weighing up 2023. The wines show no shortage of longevity – they can be reminiscent of 2017 to a degree with such allure and accessibility – but their tannic finesse and freshness will keep them longer than you might imagine.  We have written before that comparisons with older vintages can be misplaced. Given the changes in climate in the region over the last 20 years and growers reacting and adapting to these changes year to year such comparisons are trickier by the year! However if pressed, the reds with their allure and open fresh appeal are like a more flamboyant 2017 with a bit of 2002 thrown in, perhaps. The whites?  Even harder to say.  Our favourite growers have produced something a little dazzling in places like 2020 albeit lighter in scale. Choose wisely however as the lesser producers/houses perhaps something closer to 2012 or 2016. Producer, producer, producer…did we mention that…

Finally a special word for our new growers in Chablis: Julie Fevre (Domaine Nathalie et Giles Fevre) and Cyril Gautheron (Domaine Alain Gautheron). 2023 is very nearly as good as 2022 further up north in the land of the Auxerrois.  Superbly textured wines, purity, balance, bright freshness again with some of the cooler sites producing wines up there with the more famous Crus. These 2 young oenologues are leading a quality charge – tremendous wines across the board – and the prices bring a smile like the vintage itself.

We will be offering wines on a grower-by-grower basis, as we finalise allocations and prices. Allocations will be easier than some years happily – although producers will be keeping some wines back to make up for truly paltry yields in 2024. Prices are going to be marginally cheaper than last year as the currency favours the buying power of sterling at the moment. Most growers are realistic and we are hopeful for some good sense to prevail. We are living in a challenging period event-wise in a cruel world but harmonious, vivid, charming 2023 Burgundy offers a few reasons to be bright and cheerful.

Please contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss any of the growers and their wines in the coming few weeks.

Kenny Stewart, Director and Fine Wine Buyer

+44 (0)1273 054690

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