tasting / laying down / 2023 Burgundy


crucial difference: 2023 often has exotic aromas and baked fruit, while 2017 shows purer red fruit and more charm. Unlike the Côte de Beaune, there’s no comparison with 2015, which is fresher and more firmly structured. Contrasting recent warm vintages on the Côte de Nuits, 2023 has lower concentration than 2019 or 2020, and lower acidity than 2020 or 2022. I find little in common with the concentrated 2019 vintage, except the sweetness, though some do. Alec Seysses perceives 2023 to be “closest to 2019, for ripe and silky tannins, but 2019 was a much smaller crop, so has a different degree of concentration.” Considering older vintages, many compare 2023 with 1999, mainly because of the yields. 1999 was also a fruity vintage sometimes lacking in concentration. Perhaps it’s more like 2000 for the sweet, jammy fruit and low tannin on the Côte de Nuits, but the best 2023s are better than the best 2000s. Comparing vintages is rather fun, but more difficult for 2023 than for most. As Louis-Michel Liger-Belair points out, “Stylistically, 2023 is variable, while 2022 and 2024 are much more consistent.”


Quality Many producers tell me that 2023 is turning out better than they expected and that it continues to improve, the whites becoming more refined and the Côte de Nuits reds gaining in structure. In my book, 2023 is better for whites—from Chablis, to Pouilly-Fuissé, not forgetting the very attractive whites from the Côte de Nuits—than it is for reds. Most whites might be described as medium-plus (B-minus) in quality—a notch below the perfectly pleasant 2022s. For the reds, 2023 is an in-between vintage—similar to 2017 in this respect, but there is a greater qualitative range in 2023, from pedestrian to fine. In fact, it is among the most inconsistent red wine vintages, in terms of quality and style, that I have reviewed. It is possible to find ripe but dilute Pinot Noir across the Côte de Nuits. The worst offenders at village level seemed to me to be Gevrey-Chambertin, followed by Nuits-St-Georges, with Vosne-Romanée not far behind, although Nuits-St- Georges had the highest number of uninteresting premier cru wines. Even at individual domaines, there are inconsistencies and extremes.


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


FOR THE REDS, I COULDN’T SAY THAT ONE CÔTE IS BETTER THAN THE OTHER, BUT I CAN SAY THAT MY FAVORITE VILLAGES ARE MARSANNAY, MOREY, CHAMBOLLE, AND POMMARD


As every producer will tell you, yields were key to quality in 2023 reds—but we need to ask what that really means. For this vintage, 40hl/ha is low—which certainly sounds good, but this may bear little relation to the quantity of fruit the vine was carrying and trying to ripen, which could be the equivalent of 60 or even 80hl/ha. Some halved their crop on the sorting table, making a positive selection of the best fruit, rather than merely throwing out the bad stuff, which is the normal approach. After days of listening to people tell me their yields, while tasting some wines at 40hl/ha that were quite dilute, and others at 55hl/ha that were more concentrated, it was evident that figures for hl/ha were not always an accurate reflection of the crop or the concentration of juice in the berry. Some, including Frédéric Mugnier and De Montille, used a saignée to concentrate the juice-to-skin ratio before fermentation. Others simply took largely free-run wine, maxing out on the permitted yields with no or little press wine. Given the crop load for reds, it’s not surprising that they lack the density of a really fine vintage. Moreover, there was a sudden race to ripeness, rather than a long, slow ripening through September, which is the ideal scenario for intensity and complexity. They are very charming Pinot Noir, but for the top-end premier and grand cru wines, I was often left wanting more focus and intensity. A top-quality wine must show layers—lots of them—and then push into a really long finish. I come across layers all too seldom, even in some wines with an exceptional finish. Considering the reds, I couldn’t say that one côte is better than the other,


but I can say that my favorite villages are Marsannay, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, and Pommard. If I am brutally honest, however, I wouldn’t put many 2023 reds in my cellar for the longer term. I could cherry-pick a few wines, but I feel that Burgundy from the top villages, of the Côte de Nuits in particular, have become too expensive. It’s challenging to justify the prices in any vintage, and this is not a battle I would fight for 2023. Frédéric Mugnier expresses his concern: “I am a guardian of tradition, but I hope I do not become a custodian of a museum.” This is a drinking vintage for reds. Better to concentrate on unpretentious wines. I recommend offerings from Marsannay and maybe Fixin. It’s a good year for the Hautes-Côtes in both colors. The higher-altitude vineyards afforded the opportunity to hang the reds a little longer while the skins ripened, without the dramatic effect on pH and sugar felt in the regional vineyards below the villages of the Côte d’Or. The Hautes- Côtes whites also held onto their acidity well, producing fresher whites than Bourgogne from vineyards on the plain. But if you feel you must have top


grand cru reds in your collection, you will still find some stellar wines among the tasting notes. Frankly, though, you should have snaffled 2020s if you wanted a brilliant vintage for longevity and overall excellence. Moreover, the charming 2022 vintage in the Côte de Nuits is better than 2023, though some producers may try to persuade you to the contrary.


Aging capacity and when to drink There’s not much to choose between reds and whites for when to start opening them. If anything, I would wait longer for the whites; village wines from soon after bottling, lesser premiers crus from 2026/27, and top whites from early 2028. Whites are cleaner than reds, and for this reason alone, whites are a safer bet for aging, and they generally have better balance, so are more likely to reward patience. A balance of fruit and maturity is best, and on that basis the upper-end premier cru and grand cru whites will be drinking well from 2029–34—from six to ten years—but will no doubt continue longer. The reds on both côtes are equally approachable. The pHs are high; there


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220