tasting / laying down / 2023 Burgundy


2023 BURGUNDY: ABUNDANT VARIABILITY


2023 Burgundy was a bounteous but very heterogeneous vintage in which the supple white wines generally outshone the silky reds after the region’s hottest harvest on record, says Sarah Marsh MW in the introduction to her extensive coverage of the wines


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other Nature bestowed an abundant crop of Pinot Noir on the Côte d’Or in 2023, but as those who love this fickle grape variety are all too well aware, quality and quantity are not synonymous. It is not an easy red vintage to define, because it is heterogeneous in terms of both quality and style. I generally prefer white 0ver red Burgundy in 2023. The crop was bounteous, but not extravagant, although the wines can be. As Chardonnay is not especially yield-sensitive, quality was higher and more consistent. Style was determined by the degree of ripeness, which evolved rapidly as the vines sweltered in temperatures as high as 38°C (100°F). Sugar escalated and acidity plummeted, while pickers took shelter in the afternoons from the heatwave during Burgundy’s hottest harvest on record.


Style Whites Overall, this is an engaging vintage for white wines, which are ripe, supple, juicy, and medium-full. Over the course of ten days in early September, the aromatics and fruit flavors evolved from citrus, through white peach and golden, to tropical. This heatwave affected the alcohol levels, body, richness, and acidity, though less so than might have been expected, since the relatively generous crop saved the vintage from excessive concentration, in contrast to the lower-yielding 2019, when the change in the composition and structure of the fruit during the harvest was more pronounced.


A minority of whites are lean and green, harvested too early, but there are many more at the other extreme—glossy


174 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025


and exotic, with 14.5% ABV. The more opulent wines have time to improve, to tighten up and slim down, over another winter. Not all producers, though, allow them to benefit from extended élevage. Even when the 2023 whites are opulent, though, they are seldom heavy. The palate is normally brighter and firmer than the analysis would suggest, perhaps because more producers this year crushed the grapes before pressing, enhancing the tannic structure and offsetting the ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. The wines are generally well balanced, and many have surprisingly good tension.


There is frequently quite a sensation of sweetness on the finish, and some of the cuvées struggled to finish the fermentation. At bottling, whites should have less than 2g of sugar per liter, but it’s a somewhat gray area. Moreover, the hot weather burned off much of the malic acidity, making this another largely mono-acid vintage—and tartaric acid has a certain sweetness.


Reds It is an affable vintage for reds, with plentiful ripe and juicy fruit. After just a year in barrel, the reds were already accessible and largely in place. They are generally medium-bodied in style with modest to fair intensity. Most are around 13–13.5% ABV on the Côte de Nuits, though some are 14% plus, albeit more often on the Côte de Beaune. In any domaine’s portfolio, however, there are often one or two cuvées of at least 14%. This is easy to explain, in that the vintage turned on a dime, from being underripe to headily overripe, a transformation more apparent in reds than in whites. It is also evident in the


whites, but Chardonnay handles higher alcohol and opulence more comfortably. It is a fruit-driven vintage, the


character ranging from bright morello cherry, through ripe, soft summer fruits, into baked cherry, sometimes slightly singed. There are black fruits, too— sweet black cherry and chocolate in some Pommard wines, for example. In Gevrey-Chambertin, I encountered blackcurrant with a cassis-like sweetness. Where I mention forest fruit in my tasting notes, I mean that it is fresher, livelier, and more floral. Although the fruit is splashy, I would say that at least one third of the red wines I tried are overripe, while another third are on the cusp—often exotically aromatic, with pink and purple extravagance, and for my palate, cooked, musky, and cloying. Sometimes there is an undertow of something feral. It is a rather baked vintage, and some of the wines lack purity. It was lovely to hit pristine, singing wines, which are certainly there but in the minority. As with the white wines, there is often an impression of sweetness on the finish, from quite jammy fruit. You don’t often sense a sweetness to the finish in the Côte de Nuits, but it is present in 2023. Sometimes sweetness and sweet acidity combine—probably when the acidity has been tweaked. From limestone soils there are wines that can taste both salty and sweet, which is attractive.


The best Côte de Beaune 2023s lean into the softer, juicy, and charming expression of this half of the Côte d’Or, with summer fruits and smooth tannins, even in Pommard. Some climats—Beaune has several culprits, and Volnay also has a few—can be too loose, slack, and soft.


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