Top Red Burgundy vintage of the 21st century so far

That will be a great tasting and agree - the drinkers are the real winners. Enjoy!

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I think you will be comparing infant '09s with adolescent '10s, and it will make for a fun and relatively easy blind tasting, if you use that format. I havenā€™t picked up a tertiary hint from any '09 yet, finding them still fruity and delicious. They will mature, but who knows when.

Some '10s, on the other hand, have moved from crystalline beauty, to developing a bit of earth and meaty complexity by age nine or ten.

Hope your group can safely meet sooner rather than later.

Thatā€™s interesting. I had a sense that 2010 might be an earlier-maturing vintage, but I wouldnā€™t have guessed 2009 as a later-maturing one. I havenā€™t had much of either since release.

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Get my first vaccine on 2/12 so here is hoping.

come on nowā€¦the 04 and 11 choices are clearly trolling or misclicks that were meant for 05 or 10.

I find them amusing.

2010 is a special vintage in red.

As a generalization, the charm of the 2017 reds reminds me of the 2010s, a certain quality of how the fruit and acid play off each other particularly in the mouth, although clearly there are big differences between those vintages as well.

I donā€™t have an absolute second favorite. So many good ones.

I got roasted by Howard last year for suggesting 2010 is an earlier maturing vintage. Heā€™s still on ignore since then, but I always click ā€˜read postā€™ anyway.[rofl.gif]

Iā€™m surprised 2015 is more popular than 2009 as Iā€™d say theyā€™ve got a lot in common, but 2009 is the better of the two.

In my limited experience 2015 shut down in a way that 2009 didnā€™t ā€“ 2015 is ā€œtougherā€ than 09. It does seem to me people are underrating both 2002 and 2009 a bit. But maybe itā€™s just how good 2010 is that is sucking away votes from every other vintage.

For me itā€™s 2010 although hopefully some of the more recent vintages will match it. Iā€™m also conscious that some of the riper vintages need more time to integrate and could make this closer in the long run.

What amazes me is how many vintages that may not be great per se but are either very close (2002, 09, 15, 16 etc.) or are have such charm in their own way to be very appealing (2000, 2001, 2007, 2014). I am a long term believer in 2005 even if there are real reasons to be concerned.

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I highly recommend that you stop reading my posts.

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We have really been blessed with Burgundy vintages. I doubt that there has been a period of time with as many really good vintages as we have had since 1999. My favorite vintage of the period 2000 through 2017 has been the 2010s but there are so many other vintages where wonderful wines have been made (if I had included 1999 in the poll, my guess is that the poll would be a lot closer). A few of the best wines I have had have even been from 2003!!! And, in most vintages, Burgundies age for a very long time. See the various comments William Kelley has made about 1980s he has been drinking. In the 1980s, 1980 was seen as a short lived vintage. As long as the wines are balanced and not flawed, well made Burgundies age for longer than most people predict, even in vintages like 1992, 2000, and 2007. I am betting that people will be surprised at how long 2017s live.

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This was exactly my experience, too.

Kudos to John Gilman, who was a big fan of the 2017 reds out of barrel!

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Whereā€™s 2020? Or did you want to forget last year?

I understand the spirit of these kinds of polls. Itā€™s the type of debate I like to have with my tasting group. But ultimately, itā€™s sorta fruitless. Each vintage has its purpose on a given night. If you asked me today, what my favorite vintage is Iā€™d say 2001 because those wines are drinking beautifully right now. But the 2010s may eclipse them in pleasure some day, but who knows? Everyone was ga-ga about 2005 but I agree with others who say itā€™s a pain in the ass vintage that hasnā€™t delivered the pleasure one might hope after all the hype. In general, Iā€™m a bird-in-the-hand kinda guy when it comes to Burgundy ā€¦ bring on the 07s and the 17s!

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When did you guys taste from barrel? I know John hits as many domains as possible during his November trip (so in this case November 2018). But maybe you caught them at an earlier, more awkward stage?

I think John and I were tasting at around the same time. I also worked the 2017 harvest, and that may not necessarily have been an immediate advantage when tasting the wines a year later, in that I had seen (and picked) plenty of fruit that was, while clean, only marginally ripe; so it was harder to get immensely enthused about the grapes and by extension the ensuing wines. The results in bottle vs the character of the fruit in 2017 and 2016 have been very instructive to me, as I was aware that, in principle, marginally ripe Pinot Noir can produce stunning wines; but then I saw that, first hand, from start to finish. And I was happy to revise my scores for the 2017s upwards when I revisited over a thousand of them from bottle a year later. FWIW, talking with producers, I think the real quality of the 2017 reds only became obvious in early 2019. Hence the kudos to John, who has been doing this, thoughtfully, for a long time.

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Gotta say, as much as I like 2010 Iā€™m kind of shocked at the consensus. There have just been so many good vintages in the new millennium.

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I agree that there have been many excellent vintages, but 2010 is unique in having enough acid for the traditionalists, enough fruit for all, being an upside surprise when released and never having shut down. It pleases just about everyone today, and I expect for more than a few years. It will probably be overtaken by 2-3 other vintages in the long haul, but letā€™s face it, most of us would rather drink wine now than hold it for our kids.

Partially agree with a few suggesting these polls are interesting, but these days, thankfully a bit fruitless. As Howard says and Ryan, Brady & others agree - the past 20 years has been a remarkable run of almost exclusively fine vintages regardless of your particular style bias. Maybe 2-3 vintages since 2000 require significant due diligence. I chose '15, but was leaning hard towards either '02 or '10. Suspect I will love both '14 & '16 once they have some extra years under their belt.
With time, these past two decades may be seen as somewhat of a golden age in burgundy. Certainly winemakers are able to manage the heat and/or drought these days far better than in '03, but even with canopy management that only goes so far. Will there be Chardonnay in Burgundy in 50 years? Itā€™s not a coincidence that Aligote is becoming a darling (not just the hipsters) again. It finally ripens.
BTW - really appreciate so many thoughts already shared here.

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I loved the 2017s when I tasted them in Burgundy and when I returned to the states I was told that no one who was ā€œseriousā€ about Burgundy was interested in the 2017s and it was all about the 2016s and 2018s. I am still firmly behind the 2017 vintage in both red and whites. I far prefer it to the 2018s, which I donā€™t particularly like (obviously there are exceptions). I also love 2007. I am drinking more 2007 reds than anything now. I think I have to say that intellectually 2010 is the best vintage in this period, but I agree with Brad in that the 2002 has brought me more enjoyment than any other vintage.