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Last week I spent four days in Germany tasting Grosses Gewächs (GG) wines, mostly from the 2022 and 2021 vintages in white, and from the 2021, 2020, and 2019 vintages in red.
To generalize for the whites (I’ll get to the reds in a later post): (Continue reading here.)
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I’ve spent the past four days in Wiesbaden, Germany tasting German Grosses Gewächs wines. While I organize my notes to put here, I’ll put up some recent notes on Muscadet, a highly under-appreciated wine in my opinion.
2020 was a marvelous vintage for Muscadet, but the availability of those wines is now fading, and furthermore as you can see below for Landron’s Les Houx, I’ve not found all the wines of such high quality.
2021 has shown well in previous reviews of wines I’ve had and continues to do so here, but where I’ve had the chance to compare the same wines of 2021 and 2022, as here with a couple of producers, the 2022s showed even better. Moreover, due to severe frosts in 2021, there is very little wine from that vintage available. (Continue reading here.)
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2021 was a disastrously small vintage for white wines in the Côte d’Or, and Domaine de l’Arlot was no exception. Overall volume was down 65% from a full year. As a result, only two white wines were produced.
All wines below, including the reds, excepting the Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits which is bottled with DIAM, are bottled with cork. Alcohols are in the 13 to 13.5% range. (Continue reading here.)
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It’s not yet apparent to me whether 2022 will be at the same spectacular in whites as it is in reds, but it does appear to be a top white vintage, nonetheless, and this Faiveley selection shows real strength. (Continue reading here.)
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Given the very high quality of the premiers crus that I tasted from Faiveley, you’d expect very high quality for the grands crus, right? Right. (Continue reading here.)
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Erwan Faiveley and I looked at each other in amazement that seventeen years had passed since he took over as head of this iconic producer.
One of the changes that he instituted was to divide Faiveley into (1) Domaine Faiveley for the estate wines and (2) Joseph Faiveley for négociant wines. In fact, 80% of the production these days is Domaine Faiveley, and the great bulk of the Joseph Faiveley production is generic Bourgogne. As for Domaine Faiveley, it now consists of 120 ha, 70 of which are in the Côte Chalonnaise. And in addition, there is Domaine Billaud-Simon in Chablis, which Faiveley purchased several years back but is still operated separately. (Continue reading here.)
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Only the Beaune Clos des Mouches is an estate wine, although some of the others contain wine from Drouhin-owned property, as indicated. (Continue reading here.)
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This sampling of Drouhin’s 2022 whites and that of the 2022 reds that will be in my subsequent post provide yet evidence of the great success of the 2022 vintage. I hope to be able to taste more of Drouhin’s 2022’s later this autumn.
At the opening level, there are good wines that should not cause the shock of the prices for prestige vineyards in white Burgundy. Further down, the prices will undoubtedly be higher because of limited supply and increasing demand, but the quality is there. (Continue reading here.)
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Yields for the whites were 36-38 hl/ha, 20% new oak. The wines sampled here range from very good to magnificent. (Continue reading here.)
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Vougeraie began production with the 1999 vintage, and in 2001 began its conversion to biodynamics. In addition to being biodynamic, all wines are certified organic.
The 2022s are a great success, especially at the upper appellations.
Maximum new oak for both reds and whites is 20%. Alcohols are around 13%, with the maximum being 13.5% for the Charmes-Chambertin (not tasted here).
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The Beaune and the Savigny are Domaine Tawse wines, the Morgon, Bourgogne Côte d’Or, Côte de Nuits-Village, and Morey-Saint-Denis are Maison Marchand-Tawse wines. (Continue reading here.)
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The following are all Domaine Tawse wines. Those from Gevrey came from the former B. Maume estate. (Continue reading here.)
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As I stated in my previous post, this is a producer to consider if you don’t already know it — they provide quality wines, especially at the premier and grand cru level at a time when other sources are drying up in the market.
All wines below négociant wines vinified by Marchand-Tawse and will be sold under the Marchand-Tawse label. (Continue reading here.)
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This operation in the heart of Nuits-Saint-Georges, a partnership between (a) Pasacal Marchand, formerly of Domaine des Epeneaux/Comte Armand and Domaine de la Vougeraie, and (b) Morey Tawse continues to make attractive wines that are a little below the radar in today’s Burgundy. Notably, the style here is now less powerful and extracted than were the wines under Pascal’s tenure at both Epeneaux and Vougeraie. These wines certainly are worthy of exploration by Burgundy fans who have found that current conditions have cut them off from other producers they once were able to obtain.
As almost everywhere in the Côte d’Or, the malolactic fermentations were quick in 2022.
The wines below are estate wines except for the Bourgogne Côte d’Or. (Continue reading here.)
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rancy is a village in Northern Burgundy about 10 miles/17 km southwest of Chablis (and on the opposite side of the A6 autoroute). It has a long history for growing Pinot Noir, and there are also some vines of César and Pinot Gris. César is a grape associated almost exclusively with Northern Burgundy, and in particular, Irancy.
Irancy became part of the regional appellation Bourgogne in 1977 (the red wines could be labelled Bourgogne Irancy), and in 1999, Irancy became a separate appellation. A minimum of 90% of Irancy must be Pinot Noir, and no more than 10% may be César or Pinot Gris.
Because of its position in Northern Burgundy where the cooler climate was a damper on the vintages and its small surface area, for most of the 20th century, wine from Irancy was rarely seen outside of the region except in the hottest of vintages. Indeed, until about eight years ago, the only wine from Irancy that I’d ever drunk was from the (then) very hot 1976 vintage. But with climate change and the big run up in prices for wines from the Côte d’Or, the wines of Irancy, still at relatively modest prices, are beginning to receive deserved attention. (Continue reading here.)
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Jean-Nicolas Méo said that overall production in 2021 was down about 30% from normal, but it was very unequal: some vineyards had normal production, others were down 70-80%. The wines were bottled between January and April 2023. Jean-Nicolas indicated that he took the wines out of barrel to en masse a little earlier than usual and tried to bottle without any hint of reduction. He is hoping that these are wines that will not go through a closed period.
The estate follows organic principles except for two sprayings in the spring that are not entirely organic.
Méo said that one difference from the past is that he is now bottling more magnums.
All wines below were tasted from coravined bottles. Those wines not otherwise indicated are Domaine wines; those indicated Méo-Camuzet Frère & Soeurs are négociant wines.
As you can see, there were some very great wines produced here. (Continue reading here.)
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Harvesting in 2022 began on the first of September, said Fred Mugnier. It was a hot dry year, and he was very pessimistic at the beginning of August. A little rain around 20 August helped. The wines came in around 13.5 to 14% alcohol. Malolactic fermentations finished in December.
The style is not the same as that of the great 2021s here, but it is another fabulous vintage — lucky those who will be able to drink and appreciate these wines. (Continue reading here.)
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More modest wines from the renowned 2021 vintage are showing well and worth your investigation. (Continue reading here.)
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Frédéric Mugnier said that 2021 was cold and rainy with a late harvest, yielding wines that are more classic in style than either 2020 or 2022.
Currently, there is greater variability among vintage dates than in the past. In 2021, the harvest began around 16 September, for 2022 it was more than two weeks earlier, and so the dates continue to vary from one vintage to another. For 2019, 2020, and 2021, yields are all about 25 hl/ha. Not much sorting was necessary, and as usual, all grapes were destemmed. Some malolactic fermentations were early, others were a bit later. Alcohols are 13 to 13.5%. The reds were tasted from tank while awaiting bottling.
The vintage is a great success here, and the further up the hierarchy, the greater the wines become, finishing with the amazing Musingy. (Continue reading here.)
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A fair portion of the red wines that I taste from these two regions in Southeastern Austria have too much new oak for my taste, but I found these four wines to be of interest. (Continue reading here.)
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As with the red wines here, the wines are in a ripe style. (Continue reading here.)
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This estate, formerly known under the name Domaine Réyanne et Pascal Bouley, is now firmly under the control of their son, Pierrick. He said that 2022 posed no problems for him. Yields were “normal to a bit over” normal: 25 hl/ha for the premiers crus, 45 hl/ha for the Aligoté, and 35 hl/ha for the estate overall. He began the harvest on 1 September.
The estate is now following organic farming and will be officially certified this year. As with many producers now in order to combat the heat, Pierrick is not cutting the tops of the vines, allowing them to provide more shade.
Because he doesn’t use sulfur, malolactic fermentations were rapid, with many finishing before the alcoholic fermentations. All fruit for the wines is destemmed. In general, about 30% new wood on the wines. In 2022, there were 2-3 pigeages (punch downs) per day at the maximum in order not to extract too much.
These are very good wines in a somewhat modern style. (Continue reading here.)
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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.)
One of the very top Bandol producers.
Certified organic. (Continue reading here.)
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Some unusual and very attractive wines worth looking for. (Continue reading here.)
Not to be confused with the better-known Domaine Christophe & Fils. The wines here can be found for very little money and deliver well above what their prices would suggest. (Continue reading here.)
There's some inconsistency in the wines here, but at their best, they show decent quality at attractive prices. (Continue reading here.)