2020 Burgundy: a few thoughts

Greetings to all y’all homo sapiens electronicus,
I’m on the flight home after my relatively abridged 10 day trip to Burgundy/N Rhône, and I thought that I would “kill some time”, as they say, and share a few thoughts/impressions, in no particular order or coherence…stream 'o consicousness…

-Broadly speaking, both Burgundy colors are very very very good, with the whites presenting something in the vein of a more classical/low ph/good freshness vintage akin to '17/'14/‘10, if more lacy and delicate in their attack, rather than searing laser beams; I characterize the whites as being particularly defined by such a lacy, elegant character. I didn’t taste at a lot of white dominant estates, but that is my impression. Virtually zero sorting was needed in either color, as the purity of the wines attest to. By the time the whites make it into bottle, I imagine that they will be even more focused. The reds, for the most part, are crazy crazy good. The effect of the amount of heat/drought of the vintage would seem unbelievable to most tasters, as the wines have a sense of freshness and terroir typicity that most people would have a hard time believing came from such extreme weather; I know that I did. Almost all of the growers themselves were quite surprised. With both naturally low yields, and often lots of tiny millerandé berries, the skin to juice ratio was very high, meaning lots of skin, less juice, which made for a lot of wines with syrah like color, which is not typical at all, but holy sh!t are they delicious. I repeatedly heard that the color was already naturally steeped in the berries while still on the vine, often with pink juice at crush, and then the color came suuuuper easy and fast in cuve, like presoaked tea bags or somthing like that…But it remains squarely on the fresh fruit end of the spectrum, with nothing to do with stewed or cooked fruit character whatsoever. Depending on the house style/climat in question, they are predominantly blackberry-ish fruits, with some red fruited dancing beauties as well. The amount of natural concentration from such small berries and high skin/juice ratios coupled with fully ripened tannin, good low ph (read good acidity/freshness), and relatively moderate alcohol levels (for the most part between 13-13.5%) has made wines that have an unbelievable sense of completeness and harmony. Mark my words now, the best wines (and there are a lot of really freaking great wines) are absolute masterpieces for the ages that will live somewhat eternally on their concentration and balance. Some combination of 1959 and 1990 is the best shorthand recipe that we were able to come up with, with opinions from some of the most humble, serious, and experienced growers for whom I have the utmost respect; several said that they are the finest wines of their career, the kind of wines that they would hope to be able to make just once in their lifetime. It is often totally laughable, man! (insert the Lebowski Jesus Quintana gif here) that vintage of the century stuff gets tossed out as glib marketing, but…i’m tellin’ 'ya now…and you will hear it from others in time…and you will hopefully taste for yourself, eventually…unbelievably beautiful wines, literally…After just my second stop, I said (and then repeated myself often): people who don’t like the 2020 red burgundies, don’t like wine, period…the red yields are low in general, sometimes like 20hl/ha, sometimes in the 30hl/ha range. So large quantities, there are not…

-Pricing will continue to get ugly, fast, for the most sought after/high in the caste hierarchy/high on the totem pole wines. That being said, there have never been as many outstanding wines made by the new generation in seemingly every village, not just the among the royalty. I’m frankly sick and tired of the upward forces created by the elitism of what I like to refer to as the caste system, and the seemingly endless high finance speculation that continues to push so many Côte de Nuits Grand crus into impossible trophy territory, whilst authentic, dynamic, complex, totally affordable, and utterly delicious wines from not so chi chi villages get routinely ignored. Such forces are literally killing what I refer to as the true Burgundian Spirit, that of humility, deep reverence for the history and unique patrimony of the region, and the kind of intimacy and simplicity that are at the heart of so many family estates. There is only one direction that things are going for speculative land prices etc, and that direction is not good…

-Some very very good growers may stop barrel tasting altogether, referring to ideas like that it is no longer useful, needed, nor good for the wines themselves. To be frequently exposed to oxygen, need topping up, not to mention losing that much wine in tasting throughout the cycle is no bueno. An analogy that you don’t go into the kitchen at a restaurant to lick your meat before it is cooked was used, ie you taste, enjoy, and judge the finished product, not something that is mid flight.

-Many N Rhône red wines are of a similar wildly delicious ilk, in line with the factors and descriptions mentioned above when discussing the burgs. For the most part, alcohols are most often more moderate than 2019, with many of the Côte Rôties that I tried right around 13% alc, and are fresher fruited and more poised than the 2019s (and the '19s are, for the most part, great!). I did find some wines with some drying tannin (heaven forbid!), but that was moreso the exception than the rule. Bon, I only tasted at 9 estates vs 40ish in Burgundy, so…judgements taken with a grain of salt.

-Wine journalism needs a new direction that prizes an ever deepening understanding/awareness of the multitude of nuanced details involved in the entire process, from geology, viticulture, vinification, elevage, history, and beyond. There are exactly one zillion details in all of this, an awareness of which would only deepen wine lovers understanding and appreciation for the wines themselves. Such process oriented work is pretty much the antithesis of the more reductive, end product focus that the market and score driven shtuff encourages. It also is the heart of the actual WORK done by vignerons, and the dizzying amount of detail that they need to master in honing their craft. The elegant puking out of adjectives, descriptors, and reductive number scores in recycled verbage mass quantity is tired as funk, and seemingly a necessary evil of sorts due to market forces. As such reductive scores and such are directly tied to sales, I can see why there is more money in it, as opposed to a purely educational, context/detail oriented work that would be entirely dependent on subscribers who value/are willing to pay for such work. But I would like to believe that there is indeed an audience for such a holistic approach. And I also think I know who is the right guy for the job, in Burgundy at least. His name is William, and he is undeniably respected among growers for exactly such a brighly burning curiosity and passion. You gotta do it, buddy…you gotta…

-I’d venture to say that maybe 5% percent of today’s Burgundy’s consumers have any awareness of just how quickly this historically quite poor region has metamorphosed into today’s landscape of luxury class and high finance. Most farmers were desperately poor post the second war, and I am often told stories of acts like bartering a barrel of wine for a pig to eat or being unable to afford buying a child a bicycle, nonetheless other modern comforts/conveniences. Just like any deep trauma, any person who experiences such things will never forget it, no matter how much things change for the better. The paysan (peasant) humility of the region is indeed at the heart of the Burgundian Spirit, even if now covered by a few decades worth of shiny things that go bling bling…

Voilà.
Some thoughts…I’m sure I could have done better with some editing, but, just letting it rip for now…

For some reason, I kept having the phrase/lyric repeat in my head during this trip, and I am not a big fan of Elvis Costello whatsoever…

“What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding???”

To your health and happiness, every one of you, as always…

LOL, when I started reading your “wine journalism needs a new direction” point I was thinking “we already have that.” Then I saw we ended up in the same place (WK).

Yep, waiting for him to step out on his own. I’m retiring soon, so available, and I’ll offer to carry his luggage from place to place in Burgundy in return for getting to hang out, taste, amd learn.

Nice look into the vintage, Robert, appreciated. What a great time to be a young rich Burgundy collector. Wish I were.

Lots of nice vintages in a row.

i would be surprised if numerical scores have as much clout in today’s market as bottle shots on the gram (read: celebrity endorsement). if consumers actually read half of what is written about the wines they covet, the market would be considerably different. i tend to lean toward the assumption that the smaller wines are often better than advertised, and usually reading between the lines can confirm this.

OMG! My opinion of your taste just took a big hit!

William Kelley? The winemaker?

Hate to say this is a bad thing, as the entire world is going this way. Rather it be done sooner rather than later. Everything in this modern world is bastardized so why should Burgundy, which is an elite wine region for the rich, be any different?

Uh-oh, I better not admit that I am no fan of Elvis Costello…d’oh!

Thank you for sharing this Robert. I agree with you regarding the problems that have come with the soaring popularity of Burgundy. Lately I find myself reminding people more frequently “you can’t drink the label, you can only drink the wine.”

Spot on and thank you for your insights.

The comparison to 1990 is not entirely encouraging, the majority of wines from this raved about vintage having not on the whole turned out well. On the other hand there is far more know-how in winemaking today.

Written by Nick Lowe actually. But EC is a great tunesmith in his own right.

Thanks for the insight Robert. Yes, WC is a great addition to the world of wine journalism.

Thanks for the notes and insights Robert. Good stuff.

Lowe was the grower, Costello the negociant?

Bon, bad choice of words about Costello. He has made a lot of good music. I appreciate him some, I’m just not a particularly big fan. And double whoopsie for not knowing that he isn’t even the author of that song…!

I’m not on instagram, and am out of touch with its important influence.

A few other thoughts:

-In as much as consumers may have already written off 2021 as a forgettable sh!t show due to the biblically tough spring and early summer, I repeatedly heard from folks how surprised they are at the pretty, digeste, and more “typical” character of the embryonic wines that made it into cuve by the end of the season. It will undoubtedly be “une année de vigneron”, where the know how and reactivity of each gardener in their own garden will make the difference between ugly wines and who knows yet how beautiful. And again, I don’t think this is just rote, glib, forward looking preselling/marketing on behalf of the growers of the next vintage. It is sincere. The yields vary wildly, from almost nothing, to a fairly full crop, most dramatically impacted by how heavy a toll was levied by the frost.

-On a personal level, having missed last year’s tasting tour due to Covid times (for the only time in the past 15 years…), I knew that I missed such contact, but I didn’t really know just how much. I am the kind of person who doesn’t/can’t separate personal relationships from business relationships, and so consider my vigneron partners moreso as friends (or as we often say about friendships, the family that you choose…) than business associates. Even though I only see them for brief windows of time each year, over time, many have grown to become some of my most cherished friendships, as we have a sense of shared vision informed by passion and humanistic sensitivity. The first time that I saw Caro from le Serbet, for example, while tasting with Pascal Mugneret, Caro needed to explain to another client present just who it is that she works for, and what Becky’s history is in the region. It was the first moment that we had had together, and the first time that Becky’s name had come up. I looked Caro in the eye, and the wellspring of emotion simply burst, and we wept together for a good bit. The number of times that I had intensely moving emotional experiences, touching upon all kinds of things with different individuals, was exceptional. I’ve grown accustomed to a certain annual cycle of regulating my spiritual wellspring through the meaningful and inspiring exchanges that we share, and having missed just one year of doing so, coupled with the challenges of our oh-so-strange times and my personal life, I was made aware in no uncertain fashion just how much such soul food means to me. Sprinkle in the inspiring emotional resonance and beauty of the 2020 wines, and voilà, this was one trip that will certainly stand out in my memory as oh so very special…Such has always been my experience in the region, that of a special kind of sincerity, intimacy, and authenticity, all of which I associate with what I refer to as the Burgundian Spirit…

-A moving moment of note that touches upon themes I’ve already mentioned: in one cellar, a group of tasters/importers arrived, 8 or so, video cameraman in tow, fairly boisterous, loud, and jovial. We climb the ladder, tasting through the range, with the villages wines being of exceptionally good quality, ideal examples of how in great vintages the lower level appellations can rise above “their station”. The group continues to carry on, talking about all kinds of things, pretty much none of which have to do with the wines we are tasting; more like a party than anything else, full of recycled jokes and rerun stories. The growers themselves, ever cordial, patient, and pretty much silent, follow the rhythm of their guests. Bon. As we get to the top of the hierarchy, with micro cuvées of a mi-feuillette (half of a half of a regular sized barrel…), the reverential and kinda masturbatory oohs and aahs and jokes about fighting for allocations for a single bottle here and there, and that it is the hand of God reaching down to those lucky enough to have a bottle come out. Waiting for the open space of a moment of quiet, in my own turn-up-the-quiet way, chime in with this idea: Yes, the wine is very good. But I have very little interest in it. The self validating I-am-of-the-elite trophy hunting aspect that such wines continue to encourage is proving itself toxic to the region. The indelible mark of Burgundian character, and the presence of the majesty of creation or God if you will, is found in every single berry, in every single bottle made, not just the mi-feuillette of the “forbidden fruit” elite. The room felt very very quiet. The eyes of the growers themselves were beaming, huge smiles spread from ear to ear…a very memorable moment indeed.

Santé

Be kind, not cruel

really nice report Rob. Loved reading about the trip and the emotion. Wish all wine travel could be so enjoyable. Only wish I were younger and could drink more wines you import!

Thanks for the report, Robert, and the kind words!

I suppose I’m about half way through my tastings of 2020s (the report will be a touch shorter than last year, perforce, as with the later harvest I have five fewer weeks to taste), and one has to pinch oneself to be encountering yet another great vintage for Burgundy. I’ll have some more things to say on 2020 presently, but I think I’m beginning to get a handle on its nuances and it’s a very interesting year indeed, for a variety of reasons including but not limited to the quality of the wines.

How can you not love a reviewer who actually uses the word “perforce” in a sentence and it seems perfectly natural? Only William …