Burgundy 2024 En Primeur

En primeur notes
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A quick starter from me and then I’ll look forward to hearing people’s thoughts.

Just back from the Mark Haisma tasting; Mark was on jovial form, as always. On the one hand, it’s hardly representative - just one vigneron; on the other hand, because I go pretty much every year, I feel like it gives a sense of the vintage reasonably easily.

Jancis happened to arrive while I was there so in due course, we’ll all get the formal jr.com tasting notes. While we await them, here’s my sense of it.

First, there were some lovely wines. At the top end, the Gevrety Chambertin 1er Cru Fonteny was sublime (IMHO), and the Morey Saint Denis Les Chaffots 1er Cru was as gorgeous as it normally is, especially on the nose. At the lower end, his Bourgogne Rouge was absolutely on point and I would certainly recommend the Aligoté.

Through the village level wines, among the reds, I’ve got quite a lot of ‘restrained’, and ‘struggling for fruit’, in my notes. For a certain kind of Burgundy drinker, this may be just the job; there’s no threat that a jamminess could infect the pinot flavour this year. For me, however, I prefer my Burgundy on the sunny side of centre, so it’s not aligned for my tastebuds.

On the whites, my favourite was actually the Saint Romain ‘Le Jarron’, though perhaps it was just easier to taste at this stage than the grander village wines; I am sure the Meursault has a lot of opening out to do, for example.

Finally, it’s almost churlish to be critical when so much effort has gone in for such meagre quantities. He normally produces 6,000 bottles of Bourgogne Rouge; this year just 600; his Gevrey Chambertin is 20% of what he normally gets.

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PS I have said this before and I’ll say it again. His pricing is remarkably fair.

I just looked at an old pricelist. In 2017, his 2015 Bourgogne Rouge was £18.50; the new vintage (2024) now is priced at just £21.50. In that time, general UK inflation has gone up 35%, twice the amount. Mark could sell his Bourgogne Rouge for much more if he wanted to: I’m eternally grateful for his restraint. (For sure, his top wine costs plenty, but then that’s a market of itself.)

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Glad you made it and enjoyed some of the wines. I usually always go but alas the Xmas ‘cold’ continues. Looking forward to seeing what JR says about the wines. Les

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I went to Flint’s tasting last night. Although there were a selection from 56 growers’ wines at the tasting. I did not taste every wine. These days I get Palate numbness after about 15 wines, but bravely carry on despite tasting entry level whites on a tannin coated mouth. I always say I will do whites first and then reds, but it never works out that way.

I tend to restrict myself to those I am thinking of buying. Giles Morat’s Pouilly Fuisse’s were excellent. Very good structure, length and concentration, as were Samuel Billaud’s Chablis. Clos des Rocs well worth buying. Jean Marc Boillot’s village Puligny was elegant and beautifully balanced. However Ballot-Millot’s Meursault Narvaux was strangely rather green and unripe. But the two 1er crus were much better. Plenty of fruit and good fresh acidity. Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon Macon Chardonnay and also Viré-Clesse were tip top. I should also put a shout in for the Simon Colin Bourgogne Chardonnay

Pataille’s reds were odd. I couln’t quite put my finger on it. The Langerois was an ill fitting suit which tasted as if it were made from Précoce. I think that was the vineyard which suffered rootstock failure about 6 years ago so it could have been made with young vines. His Aligoté was more like Chardonnay.

The other reds I tried all had very ripe tannins: Taupenot-Merme, de Montille, and some other Pommards whose makers’ names I have forgotten but will check this morning and edit this note. Ane they were Domaine LeJeune Pommards 1er cru Les Poutures and Les Argilieres and also Dom Joanne Violot-Guillemards Pommard Les Platiere and Les Rugiens.

But my feeling is that in recent years with a drift towards warmer summers, and a creep towards higher alcohol because of riper fruit, the different characteristics between villages is becoming blurred. Also both reds and whites are now far more approachable at EP time than they were 20 years ago. But overall at the risk of sounding naff in the extreme with the very odd exception they were all very nice.

When it comes to price, if I think a wine is too expensive I buy something else. There is plenty of wine in the world.

One point I have noticed in the last two years is a huge amount of Burgundy on broking lists offered by retailers on a regular basis. Growers that 5-10 years ago went on allocation at EP time are now bouncing back on a scale I haven’t seen before. So at my advanced years (I look back on middle age with wistful nostalgia) I shall buy some recent vintages closer to their drinking windows.

As a PS and going off on a tangent, the Flint tasting is always held in a hotel attached to Liberal club, so when you go in the hall and up the stairs there are lots of busts and portraits of Gladstone. The tasting also sold wine glasses of various shapes and sizes which reminded me of an interesting story.

Many years ago Bertrand Russell was interviewed on TV about his life. He explained that he was brought up by his grand parents, Lord John Russell the liberal prime minister and his wife. The interviewer asked if famous people came to the house. “Oh yes” said Russell ”Mr Gladstone was a frequent visitor.” The interviewer, agog to discover what nugget of info Gladstone may have revealed about 19th century liberalism asked Russell what Gladstone said during these visits. Russell replied:

“ one evening I was left tete à tete with Mr Gladstone after dinner and he fixed me with an intense stare and said “this is exceedingly good port but why has it been served in a claret glass?”

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I visited Mark in Le Shed last Autumn, a very enjoyable experience tasting the 2024s from barrel! All the wines were very good, but I thought the whites were exceptional, fill your boots!

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Herewith the official assessment:

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It is now 15 days since the last comment.

I have followed Burgundy EP on these pages for 15 years. I cannot recall such a lack of pp comment on an EP campaign.

I think Burgundy EP has run its course. I suspect this campaign will be an unadmitted disaster

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I really wonder if this is the year that prices have peaked … and we can finally hope that prices will become normal again and allocations not to fight over…. curious to know more how this campaign went ….

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I’d love this to be the case. And I think ultimately it will be but… I think it’ll take a few years before it gets there. I think pricing a wine is bound up with pride, and vignerons prioritise what their neighbours are doing above what merchants are saying. It’s like asking people to take a pay cut, when they are doing just a good a job as they were doing before.

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I might end up buying some 2024 burgundy depending on how much spare cash I have. I think though that this vintage with low yields is a hard one for the wine makers to lower prices. My feeling from what the more knowledgable people say is that many of them are doing more than ever to manage quality in the vineyards.

I dont when normal was, but it feels like the village wines that I used to believe cost £30 to £50 now cost £60 to £100. I dont think it will be a retun to former whatever I may wish for in my dreams.

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