Burgundy 2020 – expect inconsistency

Louis Jadot's cuverie outside Beaune

Matthew Hayes sends a second report on the wines currently fermenting in the cellars of the Côte d'Or, and what's happening to the north and south of it.

The good news for fervent admirers of the notion of terroir is that 2020 could really be it: a benchmark, square-metre definition of Burgundian exceptionality, but not necessarily for all the right reasons. As I noted in Burgundy 2020 – very early harvest, there is considerable disparity between parcels picked clean and parcels left unpicked, often in the same vineyard. Furthermore, whereas picking for Burgundy’s sparkling wines started as early as...