The 2014 & 2013 White Burgundies

Any year now there will be another white Burgundy vintage that combines high quality and generous quantities (and perhaps it will even be 2015), but in recent years the stars have not aligned for most producers on the Côte de Beaune. The 2014 growing season began with the first healthy flowering since 2011, and as a result many producers optimistically anticipated a much-needed full crop of grapes, despite a bit of millerandage (shot berries, or “hens and chicks”). But the Côte de Beaune, for the third year in a row, was hit by destructive hail, which had its most severe effects in Beaune, Pommard, Volnay and Meursault, but was also felt in Puligny-Montrachet and as far north as Pernand-Vergelesses.

And for the third consecutive year, small Côte de Beaune estates that make mostly red wine took the brunt of the damage, but Chardonnay yields were also dramatically reduced in many Meursault vineyards and elsewhere. Many producers reported losses of 50% or more in some of their top sites, yet estates whose vines are almost entirely in Chassagne-Montrachet generally had close-to-normal crop levels. Fortunately, the hail came early enough not to have a meaningful effect on wine quality. On the contrary: 2014 looks to be another very successful crop of white Burgundies, in roughly the same quality league as 2012 and 2010.

The first signs of the Chardonnay flowering

The Growing Season and Harvest of 2014

The early and regular flowering under warm, dry conditions at the end of May and beginning of June set the stage for a precocious harvest. But following the hailstorm of June 28, mediocre weather in July and early August, including sporadic rainfall, slowed down the ripening process and required vigilance against potential vine maladies. Then anticyclone conditions became established in late August and carried pretty much through the end of the harvest. Some growers even reported drought stress during this period, with a prevailing wind from the north exacerbating the dry conditions. But other estates described the weather as nearly perfect in September, maintaining that although the days were quite warm, the nights were cool enough to preserve acidity in the grapes. Grape skins thickened as juice was lost during the last days before the harvest.

In the end, the grapes were mostly small and thick-skinned but not shriveled, and they retained sound levels of acidity. The first harvesters, mostly those in Meursault, started as early as September 9 (especially on those parcels where crop levels had been sharply cut back by hail), while others waited up to another five or six days to start. The harvest took place under mostly warm conditions. There were a few showery periods (particularly on the night of September 18), and then more substantial rain fell on September 24, but most estates were finished with their Chardonnay by then.

The Raw Materials in 2014