2009

The buzz about the 2009 vintage, particularly for reds, started over a year ago, for Burgundy as well as for Bordeaux, and has not abated since. We believe it is still too soon – after all, some of the wines have not yet been bottled – to confirm 2009’s position in the rollcall of great Burgundy vintages but undoubtedly there are many seductive, delicious wines to be purchased, in red and in white, and some of them do indeed step up to greatness.

There is a danger in generalising about a Burgundy vintage – it is some 250 kilometres from Chablis in the north through the Côte d’Or to the bottom of the Mâconnais, so very different meteorological conditions can be experienced in different sectors – and what is always a vital factor in determining quality is the conscientiousness and perfectionism of individual vignerons, but for once growers throughout the region agreed that 2009 was an easy vintage to make.

The growing season had its share of problems, with localised hail in May and stormy July weather bringing the threat of mildew, but a truly glorious August, with little or no rain and higher than average sunshine hours and temperatures, meant that serious growers brought in grapes of excellent, clean health, with no real need for sorting tables. The great successes of the vintage occurred where growers guarded against excessive yields and watched carefully before harvest the sugar-acid-aroma evolution of the grapes. Many of them have confirmed that early picking in order to preserve acidity and freshness was the key to the successful production of elegant, classic 2009 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The reds show lovely, shiny, full colours; red-and blackfruit, flattering aromas lifted by notes of spice; ripe, unaggressive, silky tannins; beautiful balance; pure succulent, full fruit on the palate with a sweet core; ripeness combined with freshness and elegance. The whites are often much crisper and less opulent than one might have expected from a warm, fairly low acid year, with good mineral definition, freshness and grace, a lovely aromatic profile, energy, vivacity and harmony. It is surely a vintage that favours reds but there are some remarkably good whites, particularly from cooler growing sites, showing proper tension between minerality and the richness of the vintage, a combination that makes for great Burgundy.

There is also some surprising variability, more so than in 2005 we believe – principally due to harvesting dates and lack of yield control – and we have tasted some very dull, ‘average’ wines that lack a bit of stuffing or are touched by surmaturité. Wines from serious growers, however, are always good and often great, with their rich but not heavy, expressive, vibrant, vinous fruit and brilliant aromatic complexity, precision and energy that translates into immediate pleasure on tasting.

Prices are high, aided by the hype and worldwide market demand and perhaps abetted by the small size of the follow-on 2010 crop, but there are actually plenty of exciting wines to suit those with less deep pockets. The immediately seductive, gourmand style of the vintage, with finesse in the tannins, ease of access but no lack of depth, particularly helped appellations such as Santenay, Maranges and Auxey at the southern end of the Côte de Beaune or Fixin and Marsannay at the top of the Côte de Nuits, wines which can seem tough-going in less ripe years. These are especially interesting for their rapport qualité prix in 2009, as are many generic Bourgogne rouge or the ‘less-trodden’paths of the Hautes Côtes or the Chalonnais. Other particular sweet spots in 2009 were Morey-Saint-Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin (hence the large number of excellent Gevreys in this Offer) as well as Volnay.

Comparisons with other vintages can be misleading and at best approximate but the red wines do seem to have much in common stylistically with 1999 rather than with the great, perfectly balanced but still very immature 2005s; 1999 was another vintage with ripe, suave tannins that encouraged early drinking but produced countless great examples of successful ageing.