2021 – The vintage of sacrifice

I’ve finally settled back into the shop after my week in Burgundy. Some of you may criticise me for claiming that sorting grapes and watching the wine making process in action in the picturesque Burgundy is work, but I swear it was! Admittedly decent wine was drank with spectacular company and that’s really what I want to focus on. To understand Burgundy and the powerful wines it produces you need to focus on the winemakers and vineyard workers.

I trundled into Camille Giroud on Monday 20^th September absolutely soaked to the skin. This was the day that the 2021 harvest started. In an ideal world, grapes wouldn’t be picked in the rain but due to staff shortages and teams of pickers not showing up (Yep, that happened), they had no choice. 2021 is the vintage of sacrifices. By the close of business on Monday, Beaune Villages had been put in steel tank to start its journey. By the end of the week, we had Beaune Premier Cru, Charmes-Chambertin, Santenay Premier Cru, Bourgogne Blanc, Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet all in tank.

Quality Over Quantity

Rain on day one of harvest wasn’t the worst thing for Burgundy. In Spring, the vineyards were hit by frost and although it was only one night, this is enough to scare the vine into going dormant and not producing much fruit for the rest of the vintage. Moreover, fog was surrounding the vineyards in the mornings and rotting the grapes. This rot is good in some instances, like for sweet wine production, but no one wants a sweet Meursault or Puligny! As for quantity, usually Giroud get around 70+ cases of Santenay Premier Cru. This year, we got just 25. That’s enough for about 2 barrels or 600 bottles. I asked whether they’d take on fruit from villages they wouldn’t normally to increase production, like Aloxe-Corton for example. But because Giroud has a reputation to keep they won’t risk making a mediocre wine just for the sake of it and for this, my respect for the winemakers only increased.

Burgundy land prices are forever increasing with between €1-2 million per hectare becoming the norm and one wouldn’t buy just one hectare, they’d buy several. But it’s not wineries who are buying this land but rich Americans, Asians, and Russians. No matter how much wine they sell, a winery couldn’t afford to make back the 10s of millions they’d spend on land (also factor in the increasing labour costs, the cost of equipment and the upkeep of the winery). By buying these grapes from vineyards, it helps to keep costs down but still the fruit is expensive.

It’s Not All Bad

Max and Carel from Giroud informed me that the fruit from Côte de Nuits (Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Nuits-Saint-George, etc.) was healthy this year even though quantities were low. When I arrived to help with sorting at Le Grappin, Andrew and Emma had plenty of Aligoté for their Aligoté Skin and Pinot Noir coming from their Beaune Premier Cru plot of Boucherottes.

Not only did I learn from my experience in Burgundy but it put a lot of what wine is all about into perspective. I’ve read about the equipment used, the grape sorting process, how to add sulphites and have seen all the names of the villages on labels but actually seeing it for real and in action, it makes more sense to me now. But overall, it’s the respect I have more than ever for these winemakers. They deal with all sorts daily and only have one chance a year to make sure everything falls into place. It truly is a tough job and there’s a lot more to it than I saw. But the best way we can support them is to buy their wine, which I’m sure is no hard feat for us.

BURG OFFER - save 15% off the below four wines with discount code IanBurgundy15

CAMILLE GIROUD

GEVREY CHAMBERTIN LES CRAIS 2018 - Normally €79.99
Stunning ripe style of Gevrey Chambertin that is ready to drink now and is a perfect Christmas wine.

BOURGOGNE BLANC 2018
This is Mick's in the door fo the fridge at all times wine and it's like a vinous hug - generous in the Meursault style.

LE GRAPPIN

SAINT AMOUR 2017
Andrew and Emma make stunning Beaujolais and this one is from the lesser known, romantically titled Saint Amour. More structure than your average Bojo so it is brilliant with food.

BEAUNE 1ER CRU BOUCHEROTTES 2017
One of our all time favourite wines, this premier cru vineyard is just outside the wine Mecca of Beaune. Bright and fruit forward on top of a structure that could allow it to lay it down if you can find the patience!!!

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