Burgundy With (A Bit of) Age: 2000-2014

BY NEAL MARTIN | MAY 7, 2019 

The “Fascration” of Burgundy

Time has ticked away at the same pace since it began, decelerating only when one approaches the speed of light – or while waiting for Bordeaux châteaux to release their wines en primeur. Time and wine are inextricable insofar as all but non-vintage wines are the result of temporally defined growing seasons that govern quality, reputation, monetary value, and how soon you and I might decide to crack them open. When to extract cork from bottle is a subjective and inexact science. The only certainty is that all wine eventually turns to vinegar; some of it just gets there quicker. Experienced professionals can only offer flexible drinking windows that will “open” and “close” depending on the factors we believe influence longevity.

Is ageworthiness governed by terroir or vine age? Is it determined by fruit concentration or acidity? Tannins or balance? I could compose a thesis on the subject and still be wrong. Empirically – that is to say, by drinking the stuff – I aver that tannic structure and acidity are fundamental, although in reality, all the aforementioned factors are interconnected and determine vinous life span. It is never predictable; we can only conjecture.

I find the evolutionary path of red Bordeaux easier to estimate than that of red Burgundy. Pinot Noir is more capricious. It follows its own route, and not necessarily the one initially projected. In fact, sometimes Burgundy seems determined to make you look like the worst clairvoyant who ever lived. Look how 1993s blossomed in their later years, or how the jury remains out on the 1996s. That is all part of the fascination and frustration of Burgundy – the frascration of Burgundy! Factor in premature oxidation with respect to the whites, and potential longevity becomes a sick joke as your expensive Grand Cru deteriorates into something resembling dishwater, but with less cleaning power. No wonder many people obviate risk by martyring white Burgundy in its infancy, or simply looking elsewhere – in my case, toward South Africa and New Zealand. There was a classic case of pre-mox when two bottles of Bâtard-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive were served blind, the refulgent 1996 appearing a decade younger than the turbid, amber-hued 2008. You will find both notes in this report.

How old do you like your Burgundy? Would you try your luck on this 1921 Corton-Charlemagne from Morin? See Part Two to find out how it tasted.

The Vault

In recent months I have been hoarding what might be termed "mature Burgundy" notes that span decades. I use the word "mature" in the loosest sense, including wines that have spent three years or more in bottle. My vault contained 500 tasting notes, a gallimaufry of famous and unknown (even extinct) domaines. Revered and excoriated vintages. Jaw-dropping legends rubbing shoulders with quirky bottles unlikely to be seen again. If there is one lesson to take away from these notes, it’s this: Never dismiss a bottle based on vintage or producer. Take a vintage like 2000: conventional wisdom is that the millennial year was all about Bordeaux and not Burgundy, yet I am discovering plenty of gems, and as a whole, the wines appear to be maturing in bottle better than once presumed. Take a grower like Seguin Manuel: ancient bottles might not have the cachet of Rousseau or Roumier, yet they represent some of the most profound examples of mature Burgundy that I have tasted.

It’s time these long overdue notes see the light of day. Having cleaved away those pertaining to verticals that merit standalone articles and individual bottles worthy of Cellar Favorites, I divided the remaining notes into two parts. This first part covers vintages from 2014 back to 2000. The second part stretches back from 1999 to the dawn of time. Well, not quite that far. Let’s just say, long before you were born. The reason is that a majority of tasting notes in Part One derive from a series of mini-horizontals that wine writer (and now winemaker) Sarah Marsh MW organized over recent months. These are 2000, 2001 and 2002 reds, plus 2008 whites. All bottles came directly from domaines' cellars. In addition, you will find many tasting notes on 2011 reds assembled by Flint Wines and 2013 reds courtesy of Geodhuis & Co. These are augmented by countless dinners, special tastings such as a Gevrey-Chambertin showcase in Hong Kong and a Clos de Vougeot tasting in Clos Vougeot during Les Grands Jours in March 2018.

As Antonio Galloni mentioned in a recent Cellar Favorite, updates on recent vintages are often overlooked. As much as possible, we taste the final wines, and in my case, I prefer to leave them another 12 months to let them settle, hence my annual Burgfest reports. Often those same wines might not be re-examined unless they are lucky enough to appear in a 10-year retrospective or vertical. Yet in terms of consumption, vintages between three and eight years old are the most commonly consumed. Request a mature bottle in a Beaune restaurant and the sommelier is likely to dust off a vintage between 2011 and 2014. That has become the diluted definition of maturity, and it is the only choice, because any restaurant listing older vintages, particularly with reasonable mark-ups, will trigger a red alert across social media, and in the blink of an eye the list is plucked free of irreplaceable wines.