2019 Musigny Grand Cru

Christophe Roumier asked me if I would not mind bringing my own stemware and spittoon. It might sound excessively prudent to some, though personally I expected more to do this. I was happy to oblige. You cannot be too safe. And throughout our tasting Roumier dutifully stood four or five metres away as I tasted his 2019s and a selection of 2018s.

“It was an early season like 2018 and 2020. We had some rain until the middle of March and then it became dry,” he told me. “Bud break was around the end of March, so we were afraid of frost, which fortunately did not show up. It was an easy season overall because it was dry. Flowering was around the beginning of June, the fruit set was consistent from vine to vine. Temperatures increased from the end of June and throughout July, becoming slightly lower in August. It was so dry that some of the vines halted the ripening process. We started picking on 16 September under good conditions and given the early bud break we should have picked earlier. So, in the end it was a long hang time. The growing season was a rare chance to have ripeness and acidity together, the fruit was so ripe and clean with good juice to skin ratio. The malos were between end of May and beginning of July. Before malos, the wines were very tight but afterwards I could really see their structure, without the heaviness that you occasionally get with the 2018s. The wines have not been racked and at the moment they don’t seem to need racking, so they may stay that way until bottling next spring, probably April. The good surprise is that we kept the acidity. Tartaric acid is at very good levels although pH could be a little lower. Alcohol is generally lower than 2018, the highest in Bonnes-Mares at 13.8° whereas the 2018 was over 14.0°.” Asking Roumier what appeals to him about the vintage he replied: “I like the density of the 2019s, their frame and transparency. The vintage can dominate the style of the wines but in 2019 I feel reassured that the terroir shows through. Initially I thought they could be compared to 2015, but bigger in terms of alcohol and dimension, in fact they are similar in balance. I love this vintage. I’ve liked it from the beginning, which is not always the case. It has been good from the start of the ageing and if you asked me to make 2019 again, I would.”

It might be playing the same old record, but Roumier’s wines excel in 2019 and I can easily understand why he waxed lyrical. They just have a sense of brightness and density combined with concentration. They defy the hypothetical style that a season like 2019 would produce. In particular, Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras stood out, whilst among the Les Amoureuses/Bonnes-Mares/Musigny triumvirate, it is the Bonnes-Mares that had its nose in front. Roumier, instead, is smitten by Les Amoureuses. The Musigny is reduced to one new barrel this year, even including all the stems, so good luck tracking down one of those 300-odd bottles. Roumier also opened his 2019 Corton-Charlemagne, a wine that since 2014 has been made with an early malo created by heating the cellar. Bottled prior to harvest, I prefer the 2019 over the 2018 tasted alongside, since it demonstrated a little more precision and charm.