Collection: Burgundy 2024 En Primeur
Burgundy 2024: vigneron-lead, traditional styled.
The 2024 vintage in Burgundy is a return to the classics, a cool-climate year that will resonate particularly well with the British market, with its fresh and pure characteristics. In terms of style, many of our growers described it as
“like 2021 but with more intensity and energy”.
During our visits the descriptor “ciselé” came up a lot - meaning ‘chiselled’ which flowed through so many of the whites tasted, alongside mineral, and saline notes.
2024 was very much a vigneron’s vintage. Flowering was delayed by cool, damp conditions, resulting in significant coulure, or poor fruit set, which immediately limited potential yields. Applying treatments proved challenging amid persistent rainfall, and vineyard teams were stretched to their limits to combat mildew pressure.
The significant coulure resulted in an impressive quantity of millerandage grapes, small berries that have a high skin-to-juice ratio. While temperatures through the growing season were broadly in line with the norm, a persistent lack of sunlight emerged as one of the defining characteristics of the vintage. August however was sunny and warmer than average, but September returned to cooler
temperatures. Alexandrine Roy observed “nevertheless, the grapes are surprisingly beautiful considering the weather, with thick, well-coloured skins.”
The vintage expresses itself differently across regions, making a regional overview essential.
Chablis
Chablis had “one of most challenging vintages in recent memory, a concentration of every possible difficulty”
according to Adrien Defaix.
Frost in mid-April caused huge damage, and on the 1st of May a hailstorm swept over the western part of Chablis, with some stones the size of golf balls. Our friends at N&G Fèvre made only 5% of a normal harvest and the Defaix family recorded the smallest harvest in over 30 years. Christian Moreau decided to blend all his Grands Crus together into one single cuvée. The eastern area of Chablis was less
affected, and we have more availability from our recent addition Lucie Thieblemont, based on the right bank of the Serein river in Fleys.
The wines are certainly “ciselé,” with their citrus and saline character, with freshness but not pointy acidity.
Côte de Nuits
The reds are silky, fresh, bright and perfumed, with pretty fruit and floral aromas and gentle tannins. The vintage offers a clear contrast to the more powerful, structured styles of recent years. The Côte de Nuits experienced more rain than the Côte de Beaune, and our growers lost on average about 60% of a normal harvest.
Many domaines commit to new oak orders in spring to secure supply, as empty barrels risk bacterial spoilage if held over. As a result, some cuvées saw a higher proportion of new oak than usual. In cases where four barrels might normally be produced, but only one was filled, growers were often faced with a choice: 100 percent new oak or none at all.
The challenging growing conditions certainly led to a more inconsistent vintage, some cuvées not made, others blended together where volume is short. No doubt it was a year where attention to detail and long experience in the vines allowed the best to shine. Particular highlights were to be found in Chambolle-Musigny, where the tastings at close neighbours Felettig and Sigaut stood out. That said, our tasting chez Domaine Felettig was a particular highlight, revealing wines of remarkable floral complexity and aromatic finesse.
Côte de Beaune
Yields were somewhat more generous here, particularly for whites, which were down by roughly one third, while reds were reduced by closer to two thirds. The whites are crisp and more on the citrus flavour spectrum as opposed to the more rounded and stone fruit aromas of recent vintages. They are extremely promising and will be a pleasure to drink young, whilst also being potentially more ageworthy than the 2021s.
The reds are light, floral and perfumed, great to drink young and were beautiful straight from the barrel.
We were struck by consistently high quality of the wines, with both the reds and whites exceeding expectations.
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In Bond Michel Gros Vosne-Romanee 2024In Bond Michel Gros Vosne-Romanee 2024
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