2016 White Burgundy: Excellent, But Complicated

 BY STEPHEN TANZER | SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Two thousand sixteen is a potentially classic white Burgundy vintage marked by a devastating frost event that sharply reduced overall production and dramatically complicated the lives of growers. Now long-time Burgundy collectors must navigate their own set of challenges to find the best bottles.

After sampling finished 2016s from several dozen of the best growers and négociants on the Côte de Beaune, it’s hard not to arrive at the same conclusion I’ve often expressed about Burgundy wines in general: the more you know, the less you understand. Vintage generalizations about the 2016 whites are virtually worthless, as the wines range dramatically in aromatic character, ripeness, texture, concentration and balance – in most cases owing, directly or indirectly, to the deadly frost event on the night of April 26/27. But it’s also a vintage well worth due diligence on the part of Burgundy lovers, as the better wines are precise, fresh and classic. Overall production was sharply lower than normal, so the wines will also require serious effort to hunt down.

The border of Chassagne-Montrachet and Saint-Aubin was an epicenter of frost damage in 2016 but merely muddy in early June of 2018

A Brief Recap of the 2016 Growing Season and Harvest

I offered a detailed description of the 2016 growing season in my original coverage of these wines from barrel last year (September 2017). Here’s a slightly shorter version. Burgundy’s winter featured the warmest December-through-February period in over a century. January and February were unusually wet as well, as was the entire first half of the calendar year. After cooler weather through most of March, a warmup at the end of the month and into April triggered an early budburst, which in turn left the first set of buds and new leaves particularly vulnerable to the terrible frost of the night of April 26.

As I described last year, that evening had brought humidity and rain, and frigid air flowing in from the west through the Côte d’Or’s numerous combes, in conjunction with brilliant sunshine the following morning, resulted in widespread destruction. The sun acted like a magnifying glass on the ice-encrusted young buds, essentially exploding the buds in the most-affected areas. In most years, well-aerated hillside vineyards are less affected by frost, as the coldest air typically slides down the slopes and settles in lower, flatter spots, which are also more water-retentive and thus more humid and vulnerable to freezing of the leaves and buds. But the east-facing hillsides, which include many of the Côte de Beaune’s most prized crus, along with Montrachet, were the first to be targeted by the rising sun. Chassagne-Montrachet was an epicenter for frost damage, but the southernmost climats in Chassagne and especially Santenay were largely spared, as this section was partly protected by mist from the bright early-morning sunshine that burned the buds just to the north.

While the grand crus of Puligny-Montrachet and some of its premier crus were also affected, higher sites like Folatières, Truffière and La Garenne mostly escaped damage and produced good quantities of fruit. (Overall, among the Côte de Beaune’s most important villages, Puligny-Montrachet was far less affected than either Chassagne-Montrachet or Meursault.) The northern part of Meursault suffered significantly from the frost but the southern half of the appellation, particularly the strip of the village’s top premier crus Les Perrières, Les Genevrières and Les Charmes, mostly got off with a warning. And farther to the north, much of Beaune and Savigny-lès-Beaune also suffered due to their exposure to cold air flowing in through the Combe du Rhoin. West-facing vineyards in Pernand-Vergelesses were especially vulnerable to the freezing air on the morning of the 27th, while the east-facing slope of the Corton hill was protected.