2019 Bourgogne Rouge

Nathalie Tollot was on hand at her winery in Chorey-lès-Beaune to guide me through her 2019s from barrel. It was a little eerie. The French government had just announced a national lockdown and the winery was silent and deserted. Still, despite this gloomy backdrop, her smile is always a small ray of sunshine and we duly descended down to her barrel cellar inside the second slowest elevator in Burgundy (after Lafarge). “The harvest started on 10 September,” she told me. “We lost between one-third and a quarter of the crop, though we are grateful because at least there was not any frost. We didn’t have to make any adjustment [acidification] to the wines as the acidity was great for both 2019 and 2020, except for the Beaune Clos du Roi that tends to ripen quickly and have low acidity. This year we racked without air for the first time, as we did not want to risk oxidation. We noticed this year that the 161-49 rootstock is beginning to look a bit tired, maybe because of the dry summers, which is a concern. The 2019 vintage is athletic and the wines have muscle.”

The Tollot-Beaut wines tend to be fruit-forward and relatively opulent, surfeit with flavour, which is exactly what some people like, myself included. The 2019s have a sense of brightness and the energy of a small star. Best for me is an excellent Aloxe-Corton Les Fournières despite a bit of prenatal gawkiness. There were a couple of cuvées that I felt were a little hampered by some high alcohol levels such as the Beaune Clos du Roi, otherwise this is a fine set of wines.