we had to adapt and that this would hopefully be the right proportion to get the right balance in our wines.” Claude Jousset separated whole-bunch and destemmed fruit into different vats and used remontage on whole-bunch with some pigeage on the destemmed fruit. While in a complete departure from tradition, at Domaine de l’Arlot, Géraldine Godot used none at all. “I was happy and decided to do the same in 2022. We have to adapt. The vineyard is adapting, and so must we.” In contrast, Arnaud Mortet chose to use more whole-bunch, primarily to increase the pH. Mortet uses only the pédicelle, between the grape and the stalk proper, so it’s a very delicate addition. I was impressed with the management of whole-bunch at Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils, where Frédéric Webber used them generously, with sophisticated results. Cuvées with 100 percent have finely textured tannins. At Domaine de Montille, Brian Sieve chose to retain a high proportion of stems in Taillepieds and in Rugiens, climats where tannins are naturally quite assertive—but it worked. Many producers were presented,


sometimes for the first time, with two- or even one-barrel cuvées to ferment. Not easy. Recently this has become more common, but a decade ago few would have entertained the idea of fermenting one barrel of anything other than grand cru. The phrase in circulation was “an haute-couture vintage.” I love the positive spin, for the reality is more imaginatively inventive, more Heath Robinson than Coco Chanel, some producers—including Christian Perrot-Minot, Drouhin, and Mark Haisma—resorting to a 450- or 500-liter upended barrel with one end removed. Well-equipped wineries have “radiators” attached to their temperature- control system that they can pop in the vat. This can then be wrapped in a turban of plastic sheeting to retain the heat. The less fortunate make do with a small stainless- steel vat wrapped in attic insulation, moving the vat to vary the temperature. Some struggled to get it right, while other old hands were spot-on, as usual. Christophe Roumier has a smidgen of Musigny and uses a bain-marie system in which a small vat is placed inside a slightly larger one, with water between the two used to control temperate. Often more whole-bunches are used in tiny cuvées to increase the volume. Roumier’s Musigny was 100 percent whole-bunch.


Others decided against making a micro-cuvée. “It’s hard to capture the vineyard expression,” insisted Charles Van Canneyt, who instead elected to put a barrel’s worth of Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Malconsorts into his village wine. As for aging, it seems that the reds benefited greatly from feeding on the lees in 2021, gaining in gras. Domaine Barthod was among those that traditionally rack off the heavier lees in summer but chose to leave the 2021s in situ through the fall. Many producers reported that their wines improved dramatically during elévage—from astringent and tart, to rounder, softer, and more generous—so that by the summer they began to enjoy the profile. That’s not really surprising; it was not only the lees that fed the wine during the elévage, since the increase in pH after the late malolactic will have made the wine appear softer and more generous. A higher pH softens the impression of acidity, which, with less alcohol, glycerol, and concentration in 2021, no doubt felt sharp when the wine hit the barrels. Producers were divided in their use of new oak. Some reduced it—among them Denis Bachelet and Mortet—and I like the lower new-oak regime. Jeremy Seysses kept his new-oak level at 25 percent for village wines: “I am always confident when there is malic acid with the oak integration; less so when there is less malic.” Generally, however, there was a slight increase in the proportion of new oak, not least because there were more oak barrels than there was wine to fill them. Producers are more anxious about the effects of new oak in a ripe vintage. Sylvian Pataille, who barely uses new oak, used a little more, explaining, “A colder vintage can benefit from the sweetness of some oak.” I saw half- and even quarter-barrels


for reds in many cellars—not ideal, since the smaller the barrel, the more oxidative the aging, particularly when new. Reds benefit, however, from the antioxidant properties of tannin, and for whatever reason, it seems to be a fairly reductive vintage. Where oak handling is discreet, the reds will require only a delicate, light filtration, if any. Some wines are quite fragile, and it will be very important not to strip anything away. Many reds will be bottled a little earlier than usual, over the winter rather than in March or April, in order to preserve the fruit, some winemakers coordinating with the moon on February 13–17.


Villages on the Côte d’Or


Marsannay and Fixin There was less rainfall in Marsannay than in Fixin, where the soils are heavier and less well drained. There is more clay and less limestone than in Marsannay. It comes as no surprise that the rustic side of Fixin was more apparent in 2021 than in riper vintages. The tannins are rather grainy, but they are light. Marsannay reds are soft, fruity, and sometimes floral. Longeroies has generous red fruit and quite chunky tannins, not as smooth as they can be from the lower section, where there is more clay. Domaine Bruno Clair has vines here. In 2021, I prefer those from the oolitic upper section, while in 2020 and 2019 I preferred those from the bottom. Clos du Roy has good typicité, displaying grip, tension, and light austerity, despite quite modest acidity. The whites are notably savory, with


an attractive bitter almond and smoky character from the limestone soils and from the more complex clays of La Charme Aux Prêtres, which showed very well this year.


Gevrey-Chambertin Gevrey is lighter-bodied in 2021. While Gevrey sweeps up and effortlessly contains a warmer vintage, from the cooler and wet conditions of 2021, I missed some of Gevrey’s characteristic firm structure, lithe muscle, and oomph. I prefer Gevrey with more substance, particularly from the premiers crus. I enjoyed the refinement of the best grands crus, but they do not have the gravitas of a serious vintage. The village wines are a mixed bag. Some are a bit dilute, others pleasant. It was necessary to green-harvest on the south side, but with lower yields they are fruity and forward, if a little soft. On the Brochon side, where conditions were more difficult, there seems to be more concentration and structure. Mortet’s Mes Cinq Terroir is a fine example. Although they can be quite light, there is good expression of terroir in the premiers crus, with the colder vineyards most comfortable expressing their leaner, sharper side. In the Combe Lavaux, the cool conditions combined with the natural draft, imbuing the premiers crus here with tension and vibrancy, whereas in recent warmer vintages this section shows more concentration, but not quite the


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 173


2021 BURGUNDY: INTRODUCTION


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