2020 Bourgogne Rouge

Nicolas Groffier kindly agreed to see me on a sacred French national holiday, and so I drove up on a desolately foggy afternoon to see how his 2020s have fared. “There was some rain on the Friday evening and then I harvested on August 25,” he told me. “I only picked in the mornings, and slower than usual, commencing with Bonnes-Mares and Les Sentiers. I changed the cycle [of picking] a little to focus on the vines that had suffered the dry conditions. I wanted to wait for the rain to rehydrate the vines. We cropped at 35 to 40hl/ha. We used the same amount of whole bunch as in previous years, starting the alcoholic fermentation at a low temperature and carrying out a three-week cuvaison. The alcohol level is between 12.5° and 13.0° with low malic levels, the malo having finished earlier than usual. The wines are very limpid after racking." I have admired how Groffier’s wines have pursued elegance and terroir expression in recent years, and these 2020s demonstrated superb clarity and transparency. Only the Bourgogne Passetoutgrain left me feeling a bit wanting; the others, not least the exquisite pair of Chambolle Les Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares, are outstanding.