nanson.ch red burgundy vintages

The Red Burgundy Vintages Last update December 2002

The Vintages

2001 . . . . . 2000 . . . . . 1999 . . . . . 1998 . . . . . 1997
1996 . . . . . 1995 . . . . . 1994 . . . . . 1993 . . . . . 1992
1991 . . . . . 1990 . . . . . 1989 . . . . . 1988

2001	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	0	1	5

So, what do we know so far? Another big vintage, though not so large as 1999. Again inconsistent, Côte de Beaune suffered with unfortunate hailstorms in August - destroying large chunks of Volnay. Côte de Nuits seems to have faired better. The wines reportedly offer colour, intensity and good structure. Whilst we await the first tastings in January 2003, I was able to taste 2001's from barrel just prior to bottling at Maison Joseph Drouhin. This was restricted to Côte de Nuits Grand Crus, but they were very lovely !

2000	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	4	11	10	12

Another irregular vintage. Probably better in the Côte de Nuits than the Côte de Beaune, though I particularly like the Pommards this year. At the higher levels, 1er and Grand Cru, we have some really excellent wines. They are not as concentrated or structured as the 1999's for instance, but we are comparing against, possibly, the finest vintage of the current generation of growers. These wines, in the context of the vintages of the last 20 years, are excellent, in the context of the vintages from the 1990's, probably only average. Still worthy of your cellar and will be ready much earlier than the 1999's. 2000 review here

1999	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	2	10	2	2

1999 is the paradox vintage. Nature's gift was that the weather would be so beneficial that yields would go through the roof. How could good wines possibly be made without dilution? Somehow they could. There is a broad concensus that this is the best vintage since 1990, and in some respects a better vintage in that the fruit has no 'cooked' notes causing a blurring of the distinctions between vineyards. Possibly then, the finest vintage in the last 50 years. If I have one criticism today, it's that the wines actually do appear very 'samey' - but it's in an 'upwards' direction, many village wines taste like fat, fruity 1er Cru wines etc. and are drinking very well now (in a primary sense). This will change as the wines age. A perfect vintage to drink from 2005 to 2030, and it's done it's best to bankrupt me !!!

1998	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	1	5	6	1

Everything that could go wrong, from a weather perspective, did go wrong in 1998. This lead to a second consecutive low yield harvest. There were problems with rot in parts of some vineyards which required strict selection of grapes after harvest. Those that did everything to ensure the quality of their fruit made superb wines from perfectly ripe grapes - sure some were not so strict - but I've got none of those in my 'keller'. There was only really one voice among the critics that disliked this vintage, it was just unfortunate that it was the most influential publication of them all. All the doubters have now converted to the truth that this is a very good vintage, particularly in Gevrey-Chambertin. Yes the tannins are quite rough in some examples, but that is today, in 5 or 10 years time as the wines peak this will not be so important. Where the possibility presents itself, I'm still buying from this vintage.

1997	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	1	5	13	5

I find 1997 even more difficult than normal to generalise about. This was a short vintage, and although hot weather had ripened the grapes fully, this same hot weather coincided with the harvest, causing major problems - the grapes were actually too warm. Without the ability to cool them, the fermentaions went quicker than normal. Some even had malolactic fermentations happening before the 'true' alcoholic fermentations had finished. On average acidities are low but the fruit is very generous. The reason that I find it hard to generalise is that the wines (for me) currently fall into 3 camps :

1. The first, typified by seriously good producers like JF Mugnier and Grivot, who at village level have superb fruit and concentration, but often low acidity giving slightly cloying wines.

2. The second group are typified by Jadot, who seem to have the fruit quality together with excellent, indeed in some cases quite high acidity - generally requiring to be left for a little longer - particularly for Jadot's wines, as many are also still quite oaky.

3. The third group are those which were superb early drinkers and excellently balanced 18 months ago, and are now closed up - I've seen this particularly in Corton's.

1996	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	4	8	18

1996 is an excellent vintage. Yields were higher than for 1995, but in a historical context only moderate. These wines are nicely rich with good acidity. The better wines closed up over 2 years ago, many would be wasted if drunk today. A vintage to keep hold of - and add to if you have the possibility.

1995	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	3	7	2

1995 was a low production vintage when compared to the three previous vintages. 1995 is also a geographically inconsistent vintage: Côte de Beaune wines are very good and quite consistent, whereas the Côte de Nuits is much less so. Generally a nightmare for those that picked late - severe triage was required because of rot, further reducing yields. This vintage is by concensus placed behind 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1999 in terms of overall quality - but not by much! My own experience is positive. No bad wines, all have been enjoyable, but they are all maturing quite slowly, still primary rather than tertiary falvours.

1994	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	1	1	5

1994 Is another year that I've had patchy success with. Apparently the 'good' producers made some fine wines - but I've missed most of them! It is said that the 'late-pickers' succeeded best after rain spoiled a potentially super harvest, causing some dilution. Most of the wines I've tried need food because the structure is winning the battle with the fruit. An honourable exception was a super Moillard, Hospices de Beaune Pommard Cuvée.

1993	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	2	1	4	1

1993 certainly polarised views when first released. One group focused on the pure 'terroir' driven fruit, and the other group focused more on high, potentially 'unbalanced' acidity. Certainly the fruit concentration and the thickness of the grape skins was much higher than in 1992, though some producers were still caught by rain induced dilution at harvest time. As time marches on, the dissenting voices are lost amongst the praise for a vintage that some people now place higher than 1990. I would say that many village wines, whilst enjoyable are still completely primary and should be left for 3 or 4 more years. At 1er and Grand Cru level, you should be waiting at least 5 years to avoid disappointment.

1992	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	1	2	1

1992 was a big crop when compared to 1991. It could be the limited range I've tasted, but 1992 is for me a generally disappionting vintage. Yields were quite high, but this was usually due to the grapes being 'swollen' with rain. I find that the aromatics are often superb, indicating that there could be no better time to drink than now, but unfortunately in most of the examples I've tasted, there is usually either insufficient fruit or depth of interest on the palate. An honourable mention to Bouchard's Le Corton, though as this was excellent.

1991	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	0	1	4

1991 was a 'short' vintage as yields were pretty low. It also followed the spectacular 1990 vintage so was often overlooked. The grapes which made it to harvest were quite thick skinned and also well concentrated. From the wines that I've tasted, I would say that if you can find them, you should buy them. Most are starting to peak, though there is no rush to drink them. This vintage is one where you should concentrate on the 'better' producers, but when you find them, they will be first class.

1990	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	2	1	1

1990 is a fabled vintage where if you find an example, it will generally require a healthy premium to secure. On average, well kept reds will still be on the young side of excellent, however, if one critisism can be laid at the door of these wines, it is due the extra warm weather of the vintage. This weather endowed many of the wines with a cooked note to the fruit and more importantly to devotees, blurred the distinctions of 'terroir' so it's not so easy to spot differences between the different vineyards. Many of these wines will last for another 15-20 years - just as well, as even at village level, most still look decidedly young.

1989	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	0	1	1

1989 didn't generally have the same fruit concentration as 1988, but also not the structure and acidity, this made the wines more interesting early drinking - not unlike 1997, except that the case of 1997, the fruit is more concentrated if a little cooked tasting. Prices were high when first released, so most people stocked up with 88 and 90's instead, meaning many wines were left hanging around on shelves, hence, storage conditions are important. Of the wines I've tasted, these have good fruit and are often preferable to their 1988 counterparts. Best wine of 2002 is from this vintage.

1988	Bourgogne	Village	1er Cru	Grand Cru
tasted last 24 months	0	0	2	3

1988 was rated quite highly when first released, though this was no surprise given the variable 86 and 87 vintages which preceded it. Whilst the concentration of fruit was never really in doubt, the wines were always described as for 'laying down'. Structure was never an issue, only whether the fruit would outlast the tannins - perhaps not unlike some of the debate surrounding the 1998 vintage. The 1988's I've tasted have generally seemed quite young i.e still quite structured, but very enjoyable. A very good vintage still, the 1er and grand cru's still absolutely no rush to drink.