The 2013 Red Burgundies

Sound like déjà vu all over again? Two thousand thirteen, which featured the latest harvest in decades, was yet another challenging, stressful growing season that would have been a washout a generation ago. Although production was again low and wine quality varies widely—with much Pinot Noir on the Côte de Beaune compromised by a violent hailstorm in late July—this very cool vintage has yielded many wonderfully vibrant, perfumed, transparent wines that should please lovers of classic Burgundy. While the 2013s are rarely powerhouses of structure, their sappy fruit intensity, healthy acidity and mostly ripe tannins should enable them to give pleasure on the early side and evolve gracefully in bottle.

La Romanée: One of Vosne-Romanées most privileged sites

The 2013 Growing Season and Harvest

As I noted in the introduction to my International Wine Cellar report on the 2013 white Burgundies last summer, the season began poorly, with cold, wet weather during late winter and much of the spring. An uncommonly rainy, chilly 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 wearing moon suits.

Conditions improved during the first half of June but the latest flowering since 1978 took place during the second half of June—and even early July—under distinctly mixed conditions, with cold, rainy weather drawing out the process for as much as three weeks, resulting in significant coulure (shatter, or poor fruit set) and millérandage (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 mostly favorable conditions, with some rainy breaks. The second half of July month 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. There were a few rainy days but also plenty of sunny ones, helping the grapes make up some of the lost time from earlier in the season. 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.

The second and third weeks of September were cool and overcast, with multiple rainy spells. Better conditions arrived after the 20th but did not last for long. On the Côte de Beaune, growers rushed to bring in their chardonnay in late September as the grape skins were fragile and rot was spreading quickly. But very little pinot was ripe by the end of the month: sugar levels in the grapes were still very low and acidity levels were high.

The Castle at Clos Vougeot

Many estates that started picking late were interrupted by a washout of a weekend on October 5 and 6, after which temperatures turned sharply colder, which at least had the effect of slowing the spread of rot. Clearly, some fruit was harvested in a rush in advance of the rainy weekend, before it was fully ripe, while much more came in directly after the weekend, before the vineyards had had a real chance to dry out. There was another significant day of rainfall on October 9, after which the grapes still on the vines deteriorated more rapidly, with rot spreading quickly and acidity levels falling. By most accounts, the window for picking Pinot Noir with adequate phenolic ripeness, sound acidity and reasonably healthy skins was very narrow in 2013.