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All wines below were tasted from coravined bottles.
Frédéric Lafarge said that 2020 yielded 65-70% of a full harvest. The harvest began on 22 August. (Continue reading here.)
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In 1987, Michel Lafarge was one of the first vignerons I met on my initial trip to Burgundy for the purpose of writing about wine. I last saw him as I had every vintage since then, while visiting the estate in 2019, the year prior to his death at age 91. He is gone, but this remains one of the iconic estates of Burgundy.
Michel’s son Frédéric, who each year resembles is father more and more, greeted us, as he has for many years, and we tasted a handful of 2022s before moving on. I expect to return in the fall to taste through the whole line.
Malolactic fermentations for the whites had not finished when I tasted in early June, but for the reds, they finished in March. Yields were "normal." (Continue reading here.)
Since I last visited in 2019, a new cuverie has been installed, looking very much like that which Faiveley put in a few years before.
The 2022s were ready to pick as early as 25 August, explained Jacques Devauges, but he delayed until 1 September. He began then with the whites and the harvest was over on 8 September. Yields in 2021 were about half of normal; in 2022, they were normal plus some more. Malolactic fermentations finished before Christmas 2022, quite common in Burgundy, as there was very little malic acidity in the vintage.
As the estate continues with organic and biodynamic practices under the excellent direction of Jacques Devauges, there is no question that quality continues to mount. (Continue reading here.)
It’s not so easy to write about my experience tasting the 2022 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti from barrel. I have tasted every vintage from bottle from 1985 to 2017. Additionally, beginning in the early 1990s, I have tasted every vintage from barrel up to the 2018 vintage. Tasting the 2022s was my first time back at the Domaine to taste from barrel since tasting the 2018s in 2019.
So from the foregoing, you can see that I have tasted many great vintages and many great wines from the Domaine. Consequently, when I say that I came away from my tasting of the 2022s feeling that it was the most impressive set of wines I’ve ever tasted there, that is a statement that means something. That said, as I pointed out in my introduction to the vintage overall, there are serious shortcomings to comparing wines across periods of time, just as there are to comparing paintings, music, literature, and so on across time:
"producers in a given era are responding to environments, problems, and questions that are of their era and not the same as those faced by producers in a different era. For wine, there is no question that global warming has changed the game in recent years and continues to do so. In particular, for Burgundy, the prospect of a vintage without sufficient ripeness is almost unthinkable these days, whereas the prospects of wines with excess alcohol and ripeness of fruit and deficient acidity are constant challenges.”
That said, Aubert de Villaine compares the vintage to 1959, a great and abundant year of wines that impressed and drank well immediately and where the greatest can still offer astonishing experiences.
Bertrand de Villaine, who has now taken over from his uncle Aubert de Villaine, said that the Domaine has been making various changes to deal with global warming. For example, in the past, dried berries were added back to the grapes to be fermented for their sugar, but the sugar no longer is needed.
After a small 2021 due to frost damage, a generous 2022 was expected — if all other elements went well — because the vines compensate that way. There was hot and mostly dry weather through mid-August, resulting in a an early bud break and an early and rather rapid flowering (the rapidity being important for uniformity of maturity at harvest time). By August, some vines had ceased to continue to progress in maturity, but rain from 15-18 August was just what was needed to remedy the problem.
Harvesting began on 30 August with the Corton. For 2022, all the reds are 100% whole cluster. The reds finished their malolactic fermentations in late April, but the whites were still fermenting when I visited in the first week of June. (I did taste the partially-fermented Corton-Charlemagne, reported below and not the definitive blend, but not the Montrachet). Also, because the Corton was in a different cellar, I did not taste that wine.
The estate, of course, has long been organic and biodynamic. (Continue reading here.)
Vincent Guillemot said that harvesting in 2022 began on 28 August. He used about half whole clusters for all the wines, with five days of immersion of the chapeau at the end of vinification. Overall, yield for the reds was 35 hl/ha, 42 hl/ha for the whites. Alcohols are about 12.5%.
The estate was certified organic in 2021 and now is practicing biodynamic methods.
Savigny-lès-Beaune is not a glamor name among Côte d’Or villages the way Gevrey-Chambertin or Volnay are, but you will find tremendous quality here at keen prices, and the 2022s here are real standouts.
For 2022, I only tasted the reds. (Continue reading here.)
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Jacques Bavard’s paternal grandfather was an owner of a significant estate in Puligny-Montrachet until the mid-1970s, including wines from Chevalier-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet. But times were different then, and not everyone wanted to follow a career in wine. The generation of Jacques’ parents left and Jacques eventually found himself with a restaurant in Paris (that had a very good wine list). In 1995, he found himself in Burgundy tasting wine for his restaurant and was attracted back to the wine world. He eventually studied two years at the lycée viticole in Beaune and established a négociant operation based in Puligny.
The wines here are not from grand appellations and the wines are not going to make you forget the stars of the Côte de Beaune. But for relatively modest prices, they can scratch the Burgundy itch when needed, something that is very much needed in today’s overheated Burgundy market.
For white wines, Bavard uses both 350-liter and the standard 228-liter barrels. There has been an increase in new oak since 2017 for the whites because that use increases reduction, and since 2006, there has been no bâtonnage (stirring of the lies). The wines are made for drinking in the first ten years, with an emphasis on freshness; longer aging would require more use of sulfur, which Jacques is not willing to do. (Continue reading here.)
This introduction to the whites of 2022 shows plenty of promise and some potentially great wines at the top end. (Continue reading here.)
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Continuing to the more structured Côte de Beaune wines and the Côte de Nuits wines. (Continue reading here.)
Brian Sieve, chef de cave at Domaine de Montille, said that 2018, 2020, and 2022 were the warmest vintages ever. Of the three, 2022 produced the most fruit. Alcohols are about 12.8º, with only two wines in the estate being above 13º. Harvesting in 2022 started about 24 August. Production levels were generous.
The estate began adopting organic practices in 1985, and by 1995 had totally abandoned synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, and insecticides. In the 2000s, the estate began to adopt biodynamic processes. (Continue reading here.)
I have been visiting this estate since the mid-1990s. The wines have always been of high quality (a 2001 Romanée-Saint-Vivant that I opened at the end of last year was all that one could have asked of that great vineyard), but there has been a welcome evolution over the years toward wines with less new oak and more elegance.
Alain and Sophie Meunier’s son Louis has now taken charge of the fermentations here and further added to the trend toward elegance and balance. Specifically, he has increased the period of cold maceration, does very little physical intervention, and uses much less SO2.
In short, this is an estate that has not received as much attention as it deserved in the past and that appears now to be poised to go to go to very top echelons of quality. Those lamenting the high prices of recent Burgundy vintages will find good values and quality wines at the lower levels. Those seeking top-of-the-heap Burgundy will focus on the top appellations.
Harvesting in 2022 began at the end of August. Overall yields were 39 hl/ha. Malolactic fermentations here were rapid, as was the case generally in 2022.
All wines below are red wines and were tasted from barrel. The estate has been organic since 1989, quite early for Burgundy. (Continue reading here.)
From 1987 through 2019, I visited Burgundy at least once a year to taste for this publication. In 2020 and 2021, the COVID pandemic prevented my visiting; in 2022, I chose not to visit because of the very small quantities produced in 2021 and also because I had conflicting obligations that fall.
The first week in June of this year I finally returned, primarily to taste the wines from 2022, although some producers chose to show 2021s and earlier instead. It was an emotional homecoming, and I will be back to taste more this coming fall. (Continue reading here.)
This producer is a new discovery for me in the Wonnegau region of Rheinhessen (home to other favorites of mine such as Wittmann, Groebe, Keller, Battenfeld-Spanier, Dreissigacker, and Winter). Speaking of Keller, Katharina Wechsler did an apprenticeship with Klaus-Peter Keller.
The estate consists of a total of about 17ha, one-third of which currently in Riesling (expect that to increase). As of 2021, the estate is certified organic and follows biodynamic practices. (Continue reading here.)