given the summer. Many producers chaptalized their reds by between 0.5% and 1%, but not every cuvée. Very low yields didn’t result in higher sugars. Ghislaine Barthod was typical in finding similar potential alcohol (11.5%) across her vineyards. Where frost and disease didn’t keep the Pinot Noir crop in check, however, and it was not thinned, the wines can be dilute and unripe. Acidity is interesting. While some producers reported high levels of acidity, most found their pHs were higher, and total acidity lower, than expected, particularly on the Côte de Nuits. Charles Van Canneyt’s pHs after malolactic were typical at 3.65, a little higher than average, while Barthod’s were 3.7–3.8, and some reported pHs as high as 3.9 (rather like 2018). But the wines taste crisper than the value of total acidity might suggest. A later harvesting date, waiting for phenolic ripeness, will increase pH, but Sylvian Pataille thinks the high pHs are due to the rainy season. High levels of potassium in the soil, a legacy of fertilization, are absorbed in solution; hence, a rainy season could increase the pHs. This might partly explain why the hot, but dry, 2020 vintage had low pHs. Mark Haisma told me, “I approached this vintage through the pH. In hot years, we have to manage the opulence, while in 2021 it was finding the time to pick when the pH was going up. We need soft acidity to balance the fruit, which is not so opulent.” So, the level of total acidity in 2021 is lower than in 2020, but the acidity tastes higher than the numbers suggest, since there is less glycerol, alcohol, and concentration in this lighter vintage. Most important, the red wines taste fresh. As for Chardonnay, the fresh-tasting acidity is supported by the numbers. Just under half the total acidity before malolactic fermentation was malic. After the malolactic, pHs increased from between 3.12 and 3.24, to between 3.24 and 3.35, while total acidity ranged from 5g/l on the Côte d’Or, to 6.5g/l in Chablis. Whites reached 12% and 13.2% for some premiers and grands crus. They achieved higher degrees than the reds. Some tweaked by 0.2. At 12.5%, I found myself enjoying the lightness and slim texture of the white wines, which have a glassy and pure feel after the concentration of recent vintages. Some producers, though, feel Burgundy has to hit 13% to have the richness now expected of it, so chaptalized accordingly.


I admire those who didn’t succumb to the temptation. Etienne de Brechard at Chapelle de Blagny was content for his premier cru Meursault and Puligny to be a light, slim, and elegant 12%. He has not lost sight of the notion that vintage variation is something to be embraced.


Winery It was a technical vintage in the winery, especially for red. The fruit was not perfect. Pinot Noir was thin-skinned, low in tannin and color, with modest sugar, concentration, and acidity. Intelligent winemaking was needed to bring this together, focusing on the elegance of Pinot Noir and showcasing its aromatic and textural delicacy. Pataille observed, “It was important to leave the fruit until it was ripe, but in some cases this came with the onset of botrytis. Maybe people have forgotten that botrytis was common in the past and you must just take care with sorting, with crushing and pumping and soft extraction.”


White It was a vintage in which to be careful with crushing and skin contact. Before the advent of whole-bunch pressing, crushing was used to cram more fruit into the press (and still is), while more judicious and gentle foulage has become fashionable in recent years for skin contact. In ripe and clean vintages, this can provide welcome phenolic structure to balance rich fruit. But in 2021, producers were interested in a slow and gentle whole-bunch press to extract the purest juice. Drouhin used no foulage and separated out the last 7–10 percent of the press for white (and red) “to remove any bitterness and tannin we don’t want,” explained Frédéric Drouhin. At Bouchard Père & Fils, Frèdèric


Webber has a different approach. “We immediately eliminated all the first juice —it was too grubby—but kept the last juice. We increased the time and pressure. We wanted more potassium, to decrease the high malic and tartaric acidity. And the last juice was very aromatic.” (He followed with a strict débourbage.) It is possible to obtain very fine, clear juice using a vertical press, certainly useful in a less-than-perfect vintage. At Chandon de Briailles everything is now pressed in a basket press to a pressure of 1.2 bar—quite gentle—to retain all juice for the ferment. At Domaine des Comtes Lafon, they


take off the end of the press (to oxidize and


settle with enzymes to lower the risk of premox), and Pierre Lafon recalled they took fewer bourbes than in 2020 or 2022. The bourbes are the sediment that falls to the bottom of the tank when the juice is settled (during débourbage) after pressing. Bourbes seems interchangeable with lees, but for clarity I have used lees to refer to the matter after fermentation (largely the spent yeast cells). In recent good vintages, it was possible


to take pretty much all the bourbes to nourish and protect the wine. They are reductive, and very reductive indeed in 2021. But in vintages where the fruit is affected by botrytis and rot and/or oidium, and some grapes are quite green, not all of this will look, smell, or taste attractive and is discarded. For most who hand-picked and made a selection on the table de tri, the débourbage was a normal settling overnight at a cold temperature, but most were careful in selecting the bourbes. Ben Leroux didn’t like them because they were too reductive, so he took fewer of them. Charles Baillot in Meursault adapted his press in 2021; shorter and lower pressure to a maximum of 1.8 bar, with fewer tumbles, “to keep the freshness and intensity of the fruit and not to extract anything green from the less ripe grapes, for there was varied ripeness from different generations of buds.” His quantity of Genevrières was so small that he pressed on top of the solids left in the press after Charmes. This works well, for it is unnecessary to press so hard. Baillot made a double selection of bourbes—an initial débourbage before putting the bourbes into a tall narrow tank to settle them, discarding the gray gunk at the bottom. But he wanted some: “Without the concentration of a rich vintage, we needed them to keep the wine in reduction.” Négociants buying Chardonnay had to be especially careful. Chardonnay is usually sold as must. The grower will have pressed the grapes, often extracting as much as possible. To make matters worse, many growers harvested by machine. This must can be settled with fining agents to clean it up. Négociants hoping to hang onto their grower contracts, in an era when fruit seems to go to the highest bidder, may well have taken poor-quality must or grapes that they would usually have refused. At Olivier Leflaive, Franck Grux was obliged to buy juice he was not prepared to use, but promptly sold it off to a less quality-conscious négociant.


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 171


2021 BURGUNDY: INTRODUCTION


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