I am pretty much done buying reds for the foreseeable future (cellar is stocked), but I always seem to need more white wine and burgundy is top dog at Che Martin. We enjoy it all, Côte d’Or, Chablis, and increasingly Maconnais especially Pouilly Fuisse.
Here’s my recent vintage rundown:
2014- Sensational, excellent across the board
2015- I avoided buying but the few I’ve tried were too rich and heavy
2016- Terrific, but a bit softer maybe and so not quite at the ‘14 and ‘17 level, but I haven’t had many.
2017- Love this year, probably as much as the ‘14s. Great energy.
2018- Haven’t tried many, but big and more rounded than I prefer but good producers are still good.
2019- Not tried, but bought some as it is reputedly fresher than ‘18.
2020- ???
Who’s been trying the 2019s? And is it too soon to tell how the 2020 vintage looks for white burgundy? I see some on the shelves but I haven’t tried any yet. Post your thoughts and experiences.
And not incidentally, I’ve had z-e-r-o premoxed white burgundy over this stretch, actually a stretch going back to 2008. Nada. Even posterchilds for premox (eg Fevre) seem to have kicked the habit.
Pat,
Like you, I’m buying mainly white burgundy at this point. Overall I generally agree with your assessment. While I didn’t expect to see another 2014 this soon, overall I’m enjoying 2017 even more. I suspect the 14 vs 17 debate will rage for decades? I’ve liked the 2015’s more than most, but that sample is skewed as two of my favorite producers (Lafon/PYCM) have terrific wines in the vintage. Both 2016 and 2018 are enjoyable, if less consistent, and as you indicate good producers make good wine. I haven’t tasted enough 2019’s to form an opinion. I’m actually perplexed by the vintage. Its heat characteristic concerned me, but the critics (Jasper, Neal, William) all seem to truly like a lot of the wines. So I bought more than I expected to. Haven’t tried the 2020’s yet, but expect to enjoy them.
I’ve only had one 2019 white Burgundy but I enjoyed it very much.
I have a little 2020 on order but all I’ve heard leads me to believe it’s going to be a great vintage.
That’s too bad. A random one-off you think or something more systematic?
All promotional language aside, I’d have to agree with the proposition that premox is alive and well in the 21st Century, but it’s become so much rarer since circa 2010 (?), at least for the domaines I favor, that I barely think about it anymore.
Whereas back during peak premox, I stopped buying white burgundy altogether except for inexpensive Chablis.
Agreed: I recently had a number of Fevres from different vintages (2009 to 2013) and they were wonderful. Some showed signs of reduction after 2 hours of being open (and perhaps a little too warm), but not premox.
From what I have tasted, 2020 is an exceptional white Burgundy vintage in the Mâconnais, Chalonnaise and Côte de Beaune. The wines are deep, ripe, rich and powerful and have excellent underlying tension. For mine it is as good as 2014, but also different. They are indeed ripe wines…
I think it is a good Chablis vintage, but not a patch on 2014.
Thanks, William and sorry I’ve missed your d’Or notes so far! Will remedy that pronto. And I’ll be sure to add a reminder to my calendar to look for your Mâconnais & Chalonnaise report in August, as I often like these as much as the whites from Côtes de Beune and d’Or.
2019 whites have pleasantly surprised me. The wines I have tasted were accessible already, generous even in some cases, but never flabby, heavy or overripe like some 2018’s.
I look for 2014 and 2017.
2018 is perhaps my least sought after, particularly Chablis.
19 Chablis seems a fair step up from '18.
I think '15s have surprised on the upside, having both richness and tension.
For some reason haven’t cracked many '16s.
I happened to open a handful of 2018s 1ers from decent producers over the past week.
None that made me want to seek out any more 18s.
Agree with most that’s been said already, and Ryan’s ranking specifically.
Should have bought a lot more 14s when they were released.
I think you hit the the vintages pretty well. I almost exclusively buy 2014/2017/2019 right now. Although some of the 2015’s I’ve had have been very nice, not overly rich and lots of great tropical fruit flavors. 2016 and 2018 I’ve pretty much skipped. I’m quite excited for some of the quality 1er cru 2017’s that I’ve picked up over the last year for great deals.
I had an amazing run of no premox, but have fallen to a couple of 2014’s recently and also a 2010. Other than that, I can’t remember running into a single bottle of premox post 08 either.
