tasting / laying down / 2021 Burgundy
proportions,” said Christophe. “With climate change, the white soil promises more tension and spark in the wine.” Dense and reserved black-fruit aroma. A full–bodied wine with a firm, verging on bullish, structure. Powerful and vital. A powerful and well-sustained finish. 2028–35. | 96–97
Le Musigny Grand Cru
A new 195-liter barrel from François Frères was made to measure for the minute quantity of this wine in 2021. An intense and profound wine. Combines immense power with a discreet and refined profile. Fabulously channeled. Wonderfully persistent. 2028–40. | 99
Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
Rich, full, and succulent attack. Generous and rounded, but light-footed and elegant, with clean- cut edges and precision. Super, supple, and smooth. A lively, aromatically persistent finish. Notably good persistence for Charmes this year. 2027–35. | 96
Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru
Perfumed and upright. Straight, sparse, and lean. Lightly austere. Savory miso notes are balanced with a light intensity of ripe fruit. It has a firm and mineral core and carries well on a prolonged, gunflint, smoky finish. So lively. 2027–35+. | 97
DOMAINE COMTE G DE VOGÜÉ Jean Lupatelli is the new chef de cave / winemaker here. He arrived in April 2021, after the frost. He immediately changed the picking, which was no longer into buckets but into back-baskets, then into a trailer, but in 22lb (10kg) bins, to avoid crushing. After the sorting table, the fruit was moved in bins by forklift into tanks. There is also a new and more accurate destemmer. Jean says this softer handling of the fruit gave him more options in the winery. The grapes have always been destemmed in the past, but in 2021 Jean started working with 50% whole-cluster. “The idea is to make fine and approachable wine, which you can open after ten to 15 years, but which still has the potential to age. “2021 is classic, dynamic and balanced, after the more concentrated recent vintages.”
White Musigny Blanc Grand Cru
Bottled again as Grand Cru from 2015 vintage, when the vines were deemed to be adequately mature. Compact and tight, layered and stony. Lightly tropical. Surprisingly ripe, this is cut through with wet-stone minerality. A focused, fine, and sapid finish. 2028–30+. | 95
Red Chambolle-Musigny
Most of this wine comes from Les Porlottes, at the top of the bowl, but 10% comes from premier cru Les Baudes and Fuées. All of the fruit for this cuvée was destemmed. The blend was traditionally made before bottling, but this year Jean put the grapes together. Very direct. Edgy and nervy. Quite austere. Bright and ringing on the finish. 2028–32. | 90–91
186 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
Intense but discreet aromatics. Focused, lithe, strong, and yet so refined. Channeled power on the honed finish, where it gathers momentum. 2030–40+. | 99
VOUGEOT
DOMAINE HUDELOT-NOËLLAT Charles Van Canneyt picked swiftly, in just three days, from September 22–24. He made no Malconsorts, but managed the other climats, despite having very little fruit, buying smaller vats in which to ferment. It is the smallest vintage in the history of the domaine. “Finally, the small yields have saved this vintage. I am happy with the result. It’s refreshing, after the ripe and even overripe recent vintages. A style that I like, as it goes back to the Pinot Noir I enjoyed when I started in Burgundy: more classic, pure, and precise.” Van Canneyt will bottle earlier than usual, before and after Christmas. I liked all the wines at this domaine.
Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Charmes
Very Charmes, rounded and generous and succulent. Forward and silky. Just delightful. It shows the terroir perfectly. 2026–30. | 93
Vosne-Romanée
Damson fruit aroma and exuberant fruit on the attack. Super-juicy. Very fresh and lively, with light, taffeta tannins. Nice plump depth to the mid-palate and it really sings on the finish. It includes a touch of Malconsorts, badly affected by frost, with sufficient grapes for only one barrel, so Van Canneyt put it in the village wine. 2025–30. | 90–91
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Beaumonts
Lightly sunny aroma. Fine, silk-to-satin texture. It gathers some density mid-palate and has a morello-cherry finish. Elegant and stretched on the finish. Refined. Really rather good. 2026–30+. | 95
Spicy and strict. Muscle, tension, and grip. Earthy and powerful. A tacky, licorice texture and an iron note on the vigorous finish. 2030–40. | 96
Musigny Grand Cru Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru
Just two barrels this year, from vines less than 25 years old, located at the bottom of Grand Musigny. The balance of the vines are now older, so their fruit is added into the Musigny cuvée. An expressive aroma with vivid fruit and a rich, firm structure. Quivers with tension. There is vigor, power, and a crunchy sapidity. It is exuberant. 2028–35+. | 95
Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Amoureuses
Juicy, with density and energy. Crisp and vibrant, with translucent red fruits, it races to a vivacious, salty finish. 2028–35+. | 96–97
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots
Muscular, bunched feeling to the palate, but not as reserved as it can be at this stage. Layered and vigorous. Good matter. Firm structure and vitality on the finish. Very old vines, and in this vintage it helps with the density. Very good terroir expression. 2026–35. | 96
Richebourg Grand Cru
Sumptuous floral notes. Generous, deep; full and structured, and yet airy. There is luminosity in Richeboug this vintage, and this wine illustrates this well. A cooler and vital note to the sustained finish. 2028–40. | 98
VOSNE-ROMANÉE
DOMAINE SYLVAIN CATHIARD A plethora of cuvées from the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits at this domaine, which has expanded from about 10 acres (4ha) to 30 acres (12ha) with these additional parcels, many of which have very old vines planted between the 1940s and the 1970s. The Cathiards have constructed a vast new winery and cellar for this production. The regional wines are quite glossy, with between 20% and 35% new oak. Sebastien Cathiard remarked, “In 2021 there is the salinity that I found in 2013. More fruity and juicy than 2013, so maybe a mix of 2013 and 2017. Less acidity than 2013, but you still have freshness.”
Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Murgers
Four barrels and 50% new oak. Ripe fruit and a rounder expression on the nose. Fuller bodied on the palate, with juicy succulence and slightly sappy, firm tannins, maybe from the oak, but these give a freshness and energy to the finish. 2026–30+. | 92–93
Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Aux Thorey
Violets on the aroma. Very attractive sweet fruit, lightly crisp, quite light-bodied and airy. An aromatic finish. Expresses its sense of place. An elegant, pure, and higher toned Nuits. Shows its finer boned structure in 2021. 2025–30. | 93
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Malconsorts
A refined Malconsorts, with a lightly firm structure, fine-textured tannins, and just nicely ripened fruit, underscored with crisp acidity. It pushes into a lively, long finish. 2026–32. | 95
DOMAINE ANNE GROS Julie Tollot-Gros, Anne Gros’s daughter, recalls saving most of the grands crus from frost using candles. Many of their parcels have a cooler exposure, so generally they have fewer issues with acidity, but rather more with ripening, except in Echézeaux, where the genetic material always gives lower acidity and a softer expression of this grand cru. Up in the village parcel of Barreaux, the opposite is true. This loses the sunset behind the hill, making super-nervy wine. Good Hautes-Côtes in both colors, from thin limestone soil below the cemetery in Concoeur.
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