The 2013 Red Burgundies: Fascinating and Challenging

Two thousand thirteen is not generally a vintage I would recommend for red Burgundy neophytes. There are too many green, dry or otherwise undernourished wines. Some are a bit too tart to give much pleasure. Even the best wines are not especially user-friendly in the early going. But for long-time connoisseurs, this cool, late, difficult year is ripe with rewards and is endlessly intriguing.

In contrast to the friendlier, fruitier 2014 vintage, 2013 was a year without a September miracle. Strict sorting of the fruit was essential to making good wines in 2013, with many producers eliminating grapes with less-than-healthy skins (from rot or oidium) and underripe, pink (rosé) berries. The harvest was extremely tricky as the need to proceed slowly in order to do a more careful selection, both in the vines and in the wineries, had to be balanced against the pressure to pick quickly due to deteriorating fruit. Estates across a large swath of the Côte de Beaune faced the added challenge of a major hailstorm on July 23, which cut production sharply, affected the ripening process, and could throw off the balance of the wines.

Domaine Armand Rousseau, Gevrey-Chambertin

Domaine Armand Rousseau, Gevrey-Chambertin

The 2013 Growing Season and Harvest

As I wrote last year, the 2013 season began with cold, wet weather during late winter and much of the spring. An uncommonly rainy, cold May set the stage for oidium and mildew problems as well as an extremely late flowering. The vineyards were so muddy in April and May that growers could not get their tractors in and had to do their treatments by foot, wearing moon suits.

Conditions were much better during the first half of June but the latest flowering since 1978 took place during the second half of the month—and even into early July—under mixed conditions, with cold, rainy weather drawing out the process for as much as three weeks. The result was significant coulure (shatter, or poor fruit set) and millerandage (shot berries, or “hens and chicks”). The stage was set for a small, very late harvest and inconsistent ripeness. Constant vineyard treatments were needed to protect the fruit against mildew and oidium, and on-and-off rainfall throughout the season often confounded the efforts of even the most conscientious growers. Ultimately, though, the well-aerated clusters and small berries helped to protect the fruit against rot.

July and August brought better but frequently humid weather, with some rainy spells, so the threat of mildew and oidium was now a constant. The second half of July was quite warm, and the longest hot period of the season extended from July 21 through August 5, after which August temperatures turned more moderate through the end of the month and into early September. But a severe hailstorm on July 23 did major damage to many vineyards on the Côte de Beaune. Hardest hit was the area between Savigny-lès-Beaune and the northern part of Pommard, where some vineyards lost as much as 90% of their crop; but the Pernand side of the Corton hill, the rest of Pommard and much of Volnay also suffered losses.

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Two thousand thirteen is not generally a vintage I would recommend for red Burgundy neophytes. But for long-time connoisseurs, this cool, late, difficult year is ripe with rewards and is endlessly intriguing.