Archive Away: Mature Burgundies 1919-2019

BY NEAL MARTIN | JUNE 25, 2024

It is time to gather my diaspora of Burgundy tasting notes into a single article. You can easily lose track of the countless jottings inside Pinot-dappled notebooks, random Word files clogging your hard drive, stacks of menus graffitied in spidery handwriting and scores. They can easily be mislaid, and then all that will exist is your fading memory. These bottles were imbibed over the previous year from New York to London via Tokyo, amongst groups of wine-lovers, or just a cheeky glass in front of the gogglebox at home. It is an eclectic array of vintages, growers and appellations, and yet it is vital to remember that they are all fundamentally variations of fermented grape juice, however much prices might persuade you otherwise. Eagle-eyed readers may also spot one or two interlopers from Germany and Alsace that were poured at Burgundy tastings. Hey, they need homes too.

There are a couple of themes that I wish to highlight.

Many of the notes come from my weeks spent tasting from barrel in the Côte d’Or during October/November, including a couple of La Paulées where guests raided their cellars and opened some extraordinary bottles. One gentleman poured no less than the 2005 Romanée-Conti and served it from magnum to ensure everyone had a decent pour. You will find other spectacular bottles, such as the 2010 Montrachet from Domaine Ramonet, the 1986 Richebourg from Domaine Méo-Camuzet, and, away from the Côte d’Or, the 1975 Riesling Clos Ste. Hune. Though I appreciate these wines and, of course, the chance to drink them, it is the esoterica that holds the most interest. For example, the 1978 Corton Clos des Fietres Grand Cru from Voarick or the outstanding 1949 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses from Nicolas Arnaud, presumably an old and defunct négociant. These are wines that you are never going to drink again, and there is a duty to record them and mark their existence for posterity, irrespective of their sensory attributes.