Vintage preview: Burgundy 2018
A hard vintage to generalise about, due to individual estates’ reactions to the extreme weather. So, more than ever, says Tim Atkin MW, it pays to know your producer and choose carefully. Here he gives an in-depth analysis of the vintage and picks out 100 top-scoring and best-value reds and whites from across the communes
Historic is a word that has been widely employed to describe Burgundy’s 2018 vintage. It was certainly a year of extreme weather – the hottest since 2003 – and of large volumes, particularly for white wines. Some have compared 2018 to the semi-mythical 1947, while at least one UK importer has claimed that many domaines have produced their ‘finest-ever’ reds. The truth, as it invariably is in Burgundy, is much more complicated.
There were two key factors. The first was the wet and mostly mild winter. February was dry and cold, but otherwise the period from
November 2017 to March 2018 was marked by well above-average rainfall. This meant the water table was high and the soils had plenty of precious humidity, not the case in 2003.
The second key factor was the torrid summer temperatures between June and September, which were hotter in Dijon than in Marseille.
Sugar levels at harvest were elevated in many vineyards, and not always in step with phenolic ripeness, so picking dates were even more important. ‘It was the most complicated vintage I’ve ever experienced,’ said Claudie Jobard of her own domaine and Remoissenet Père et Fils. ‘Everything ripened at the same time.’ Summer rain helped in some villages
but 2018 was still a climate-change vintage, like 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017. Acidification was more common than people were prepared to admit, as were stuck fermentations.
It is extremely difficult to generalise about the wines. Viticulture, harvesting schedules and what happened in individual cellars all had an impact on style and quality. Alcohol levels vary from 12% to 20% (yes, really), and while many wines are perhaps surprisingly well balanced, faulty ones are also in evidence. Watch out for marked volatile acidity, brettanomyces and figgy notes in some reds, and dilution and bitterness in some whites.
Comparisons and verdict
As Bertrand de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti put it, ‘people are talking about 2003, 2009 and 2015, but similar growing seasons don’t necessarily produce similar wines’. Producers are also learning how to deal with such vintages. ‘2003 vaccinated us against what happened in 2018,’ said Nicolas Groffier of Domaine Robert Groffier. ‘We didn’t make the same mistakes twice.’
In short, the 2018 vintage is both unique and heterogenous. More than ever, it makes sense to follow individual producers rather than villages or vineyards. The best whites – helped by the high yields and, in some cases, early picking – are fresh and vibrant, if less so than the 2017s, while the top reds are plush and textured but with freshness and minerality, sometimes from the use of whole bunches.
Choose carefully and this is a vintage that will give you immediate pleasure and also age well in the medium-term. Final prices in some markets will depend on political factors, while the recent tariff hike in the US will add 25% to the final bill there, but there’s plenty of good wine to go around. Buy the grands crus if you have the money – although these sometimes had the highest alcohol levels – but don’t overlook village and generic wines. The hot, dry summer produced healthy grapes everywhere and some good to very good bottles. You just need to pick the right ones.
Around the regions Côte de Nuits
These reds are the most inconsistent of all in 2018, ranging from the sublime to the almost undrinkable. Yields were generally lower here than in the rest of Burgundy because of the heat, and some of the resulting wines are powerful, even figgy at times. Picking dates varied widely, with the harvest covering almost a month and culminating on 20 September. At their ripest, some of the
grands crus hit 16.5% alcohol or more. The biggest wines have more acidity than the 2003s, but are even headier.
Gevrey-Chambertin, where yields were generous and close to the record levels of 2017, fared best, although the top producers made impressive wines in Morey-St-Denis, ChambolleMusigny and Vosne-Romanée. Vineyards closer to the cooling breezes wafting down from the Hautes Côtes through the valleys often performed well. Nuits-St-Georges, especially in the vineyards to the south of the village, was more mixed; those closer to Vosne-Romanée generally fared better.
In terms of challenges in the vineyard, mildew was a problem in Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-St-Georges, Fixin and Marsannay, while parts of Nuits-St-Georges and Premeaux were hit by hail on 15 July. This halved yields in some vineyards, further concentrating what was left behind.
Overall, this is a very mixed vintage that merits careful selection. When it’s good, it’s superb; when it’s bad, you really should look elsewhere in Burgundy in 2018.
Best producers: Domaine Arlaud Père et Fils, Domaine Cécile Tremblay, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Denis Mortet, Domaine Dujac, Domaine Dugat-Py, Domaine Fourrier, Domaine Jean Grivot, Domaine J-F Mugnier, Domaine Robert Groffier.
Côte de Beaune
Yields were higher in the Côte de Beaune than the Côte de Nuits and the reds are more consistent as a result. The top wines aren’t quite at the same level as those from the best grands and premiers crus of GevreyChambertin, Morey-St-Denis, ChambolleMusigny and Vosne-Romanée, but there’s a brightness and freshness to many of reds that is welcome in 2018. The Côte de Beaune also benefited from summer rain, which helped the vines to maintain a degree of balance.
Corton, Beaune, Volnay and Pommard have all made many excellent wines. And, just as in 2017, there’s plenty of wine in the cellars, which is a relief after the catastrophic run of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. This is also an enjoyable year for often overlooked villages such as Chorey-lès-Beaune, Savigny-lèsBeaune, Monthélie and Santenay.
Most of Burgundy’s best white wines were made in the Côte de Beaune, with Meursault, Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet all performing well, and cooler sites in Ladoix, St-Romain, St-Aubin and Santenay coming into their own. Once again, generous yields preserved a degree of zip in a year when malic acid in the grapes was in short supply.
‘It was the most complicated vintage I’ve ever experienced’ Claudie Jobard, of Domaine Claudie Jobard and Remoissenet P•re et Fils
This is not a brilliant vintage for whites – 2014 and 2017 are both superior – but thanks to the quantities produced, it’s a good to very good one.
Best producers: Domaine de la Vougeraie, Domaine du Comte Armand, Domaine Lafarge, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine de Montille, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine Paul Pillot, Domaine Guy Roulot, Etienne Sauzet, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey.
Côte Chalonnaise
Apart from heat stress in some vineyards, especially those planted with young vines or on poorer soils, the Côte Chalonnaise had a comparatively comfortable vintage in 2018, with no frost or hail damage. White wine yields were the highest since 2009, with many producers reporting crops of 60hl/ha or more. Overall, the region made 22.5% more white wine in 2018 than 2017, compared with a drop of 1.1% for the reds.
Appellations where machine-picking is the norm sometimes suffered from bitterness in the wines, partly because of the thick skins on some bunches, while dilution was a problem when volumes were allowed to get out of hand. There are some very good whites, especially in Rully, where the premiers crus are often impressive, but it is the reds of Mercurey and Givry that are the region’s stand outs. When
the grapes were picked at the right time, Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noirs delivered some of the best value in Burgundy in 2018.
Best producers: Domaine Bruno Lorenzon, Domaine François Lumpp, Domaine Paul and Marie Jacqueson, Domaine Tupinier-Bautista, Domaine Vincent Dureuil-Janthial.
Mâconnais
Dominated as it is by Chardonnay, the Mâconnais reflected the elevated white wine yields across the entire region in 2018. Olivier Merlin reported his biggest-ever crop and was not alone in filling his cellar. ‘2018 reminds me of 1982, which also produced balanced wines, rather than 2000 or 1996, which were slightly hollow.’ Jean-Philippe Bret of Bret Brothers says that the generous quantities and the record late autumn and winter rainfall, which helped the vines to resist the heatwave, saved the vintage.
The region largely dodged the storms this year, although Mâcon-Cruzilles and Quintaine were hit by hail in early July. The only other challenge, as elsewhere in Burgundy, was picking at the right moment, with rapid accumulation of sugars in the warmer parts of Pouilly-Fuissé.
Overall, this is a good to very good vintage for the whites, especially those from cooler sites in Vergisson and Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine, which retained natural acidity. Significantly, diurnal variation in 2018 was higher than in 2017 and 2015, and it shows in the balance of the best wines. There’s value to be found here. Best producers: Château de Fuissé, Château des Rontets, Clos des Vignes du Maynes, Domaine Christophe Cordier, Héritiers du Comte Lafon.
‘2018 reminds me of 1982, which also produced balanced wines, rather than 2000 or 1996, which were slightly hollow’
Olivier Merlin