2019 Bourgogne Rouge

I spent a very useful couple of hours tasting with Benjamin Leroux at his winery on the Beaune ringroad. Leroux is always one of the most candid winemakers, not all of his words publishable, but certainly providing insight into the growing season across various appellations. We began discussing his whites. “The harvest began on 6 September as the whites were quickly increasing in sugar. Chassagne-Montrachet was slightly higher in sugar than Meursault. The biggest difference between 2019 and 2003 is actually the logistics. You need to be able to face the situation and have a large team [of pickers] and a cool room if you have to pick in the evening. We harvested fast in 2019. We picked Saint-Romain in three days whereas it is usually ten. I will probably rack the whites in a month’s time, bottle the Aligoté in December and the rest in February. We cropped at around 32hl/ha with variations between vineyards, around 25-30% down. For the reds we yielded round the same. The Côte de Nuits was just over 40hl/ha and 34-35hl/ha in the Côte de Beaune as frost affected both the Chardonnay and the early Pinot Noir, which suffered more millerandage. Thankfully, we didn’t suffer too many burnt berries from the sun and in fact, we suffered more burnt fruit from sulphur.”

This was an excellent portfolio of 2019s from Leroux. His practice of commencing the fermentation of whites in barrel and then using the new oak to mature the reds, thereby lessening the wood impact, has paid dividends. The reds, which are unlikely to be racked until next March, are studded with some exceptionally finely crafted wines that seemed to be sculpted by a smallest chisel in the set: the Volnay Les Caillerets, Nuits Saint-Georges Les Boudots or Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers are just some examples. A couple, not least the Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru, were broody and an exception to the rule, given the approachability of the 2019 vintage. Such wines deserve several years tucked away in a cellar. Overall, if I had to choose, I prefer Leroux’s reds to his whites. Good as the whites are, there are not as many highlights and it will be fascinating to see whether they surpass the impressive 2018s.