tasting / laying down / 2021 Burgundy
racy line, clipped edges, and gauzy texture. I particularly like this sector in 2021. In the smaller but nonetheless
significant Combe Grisard, grand cru Latricières clearly expresses its fine-boned aristocratic profile, which was somewhat concealed in the sweet-fruit warm vintages, at least in youth. While 2021 Latricières is slightly aloof, it will reveal its true potential more readily than these. At the other extreme is the warm terroir of Chapelle-Chambertin, where there is perilously little topsoil over the limestone. The vines here can bake in hotter vintages, producing rather square, jammy wine. I prefer them in 2021. They have a straighter line and more energy. If you like wine with energy, premier
cru Petit-Chapelle is always reliable. It lies below Chapelle, with a fault dividing the two, and the soil is deeper in the premier cru, with well-drained clay. It shows plenty of density and vigor in 2021. Less susceptible to extremes, it is always vital and is often my favorite premier cru from the middle of the village. Moving to the hill, Cazetières, another
favorite premier cru, didn’t fare so well. Bruno Clair’s, from a section at the top, is lean and sparse, with talcy tannins and a salty finish. It’s very stylish, but illustrates the lack of beef in this vintage where the terroir becomes a little marginal. Ruchottes-Chambertin is also straight and sparse. Lightly austere, but with enough redcurrant ripeness to balance, they are well defined, narrow, and nervy, but not severe, sometimes with a gunflint, smoky finish. The vintage exposes the stricter structure of Ruchottes, while it reveals the softer side of Charmes. I tasted plenty of forthcoming, fruity, and supple Charmes-Chambertin, with Mazoyères showing more grip. But I also had some rather lackluster, empty examples. The vintage highlights the aromatic precision of Clos Bèze, with beautifully fragrant examples that are delicate, pure, and more refined than of late. Chambertin, too, is a class act, quiet and poised.
Morey-St-Denis
I enjoyed the village-level wines. With a smaller vineyard area than Gevrey, they are more consistent. From below the village, red-fruit, silky, and savory, and from En La Rue de Vergy, the wines sing on a high and lively line, with a dusting of powdered chalk in both red and white. Whites from Morey are super-savory and sappy in 2021.
174 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 As for the grands crus: 2021 exposes
the central cold and stony core of Clos de la Roche at Dujac. In hot vintages, Clos de la Roche can often more extravagant. I like it pared back to reveal the rock.
Chambolle-Musigny
There was snow in Chambolle, and the clear morning skies, with the sunshine reflecting off the snow, resulted in substantial losses everywhere, but particularly in Amoureuses and Musigny: poor quantity but lovely quality. The vintage becomes Chambolle. The lucidity and tension in Chambolle in a cooler vintage is mesmerizing. A quick retaste of 2020 in Frédéric Mugnier’s cellar serves to emphasize that 2021 doesn’t have the concentration and flashy Polaroid quality of 2020—but what it lacks in concentration and acidity, it makes up for in subtlety and precision. Lighter-bodied than recent vintages but intense, and there is phenolic ripeness. In Chambolle, 2021 is a sensual vintage of perfume and lacy tannin. They are aérien and harmonious. As Christophe Roumier observes, “The wines are quite serene.” There is lucidity of terroir, revealed in the precision and salty minerality, most obviously from climats such as Cras and Fuèes, but also on some of the lower-sited premiers crus, such as Les Gruenchers, which have the sensation of the hillside. This exposure to the limestone brings light austerity, rarely severe, and a cool line. At De Vogüé, where old vines of Amoureuses have recently been grubbed up, holes were dug to assess the soil structure. This section lies on the terrace above the quarry. Jean Lupatelli discovered the topsoil is just 8–12in (20–30cm) deep here, over Comblanchien limestone. The three barrels of 2021, the last for some time, eloquently show the mineral tension and line.
With such clarity to the terroir in
2021, there is no better place to taste the differences than in Ghislaine Barthod’s cellar, which has an impressive range of premiers crus. Les Baudes, which lies below Bonnes Mares, impressed me this year, with its strong reflection of the richness and breadth of Bonnes Mares. Bonnes Mares is harmonious and smooth, subtly powerful and consistent, from white or red soil. Musigny is straight, with serious, steely structure and focus. Whole-cluster works well in Chambolle, not least in Amoureuses,
where many use it, including Drouhin and Faiveley and, of course, Christophe Roumier, in his satin-textured Amoureuses and Musigny. The village wines were cracking, too. They have vivid red fruit and perfume, especially the racy wines from higher sites, including Veroilles, perched above the village. Chambolle was the most consistent of all the villages—my favorite this year.
Clos de Vougeot and Echézeaux Clos de Vougeot is not austere in 2021. It is forthcoming and fruity, quite light and rather polite, with lower acidity, in part accounting for the softer, less punchy tannin. Frankly, I would prefer to see a more broad-shouldered, muscly typicité. Only wine from the best lieux-dits are worth seeking out. The finest I tasted was from Méo-Camuzet, which has a large chunk right under the château. I wouldn’t forage below the top third of the vineyard, where wines can feel dilute, lacking matter; possibly the rain collected here. Echézeaux notches up but is inconsistent in style and quality. This is a large grand cru, with much variation in potential, which is less evident in easier vintages. It’s a stretch for even a good producer to make a serious wine from a lesser parcel in a poor vintage. But Echézeaux always has better manners than Clos Vougeot, particularly when tasting from barrel. Many are urbane and sleek, with supple tannins, but others can be a little light and thin. I’ll slightly contradict myself by recommending the lieu-dit of En Orveaux in 2021. Not the best place. Nor the worst. It is south-facing, so benefits from sunshine during the day but is cold at night because of the combe. I tasted five, which were elegant and streamlined, perfumed and silky. They captured the spirit of the year.
Vosne-Romanée If a typical Vosne-Romanée combines power and depth with elegance and sensuality, in 2021 the power is reined in. The premiers crus are quite soft and fragrant and nod toward the easier charm one expects of premier cru Les Chaumes. (Brûlées, however, contradicts this, with rather lively energy.) Reignots is almost ethereal. Maybe the texture of Vosne- Romanée’s premiers crus is more silky than velvet or satin; Méo-Camuzet’s Cros Parentoux is a good example of this. There is finesse to the premiers crus, but
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