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Burgundy 2002 - a sneak preview
11 Jan 2004 by JR
Two tastings of Burgundy 2002s down and just 12
more to go before I can publish all my tasting notes and a full
assessment of this extremely exciting vintage. There are scores of
wines, both red and white, well worth buying, though individual
domaines vary considerably in their success rates with this interesting
year.
Be warned however that for the first time for some years, prices in
sterling have risen a bit, especially at the top end. (Prices in US
dollars seem to have escalated fairly steadily over recent vintages.)
These price rises are mainly a response to the relatively tiny size of
the 2003 crop in Burgundy which shrunk not in the wash but in the
extreme heat, and after the ravages of some punishing frost damage.
The Burgundians have shown an admirable lack of rapaciousness,
particularly in relation to their counterparts on the other side of
France, so I don't begrudge their price rises too much. But a Grand Cru
or one of the highest-priced Premiers Crus will have to be truly
thrilling for me to recommend it wholeheartedly as a sensible buy. The
really exciting thing is that there are many great buys in the £100-300
per case range. Merchants suffering from a hole in their turnover
because of sluggish demand for Bordeaux 2002 last year are presumably
pinning their hopes on these Burgundy 2002 en primeur offers.
Note however that most of my notes are based on cask samples tasted in
London. I have tried to establish exactly when these cask samples were
taken but there may inevitably be some wines which will have suffered
twixt cellar and tasting. For even more detail based on tasting from
cask to cask in the cellar take a look at Allen Meadows' burghound.com,
based on longer periods spent in the region than any other anglophone
commentator manages. (My family would kill me if I did anything like
his tours of duty.)
Hold on for my overview here in wine news on Jan 31, backed up by
hundreds and hundreds of individual tasting notes, scores and likely
drinking dates on
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