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2016: A Disaster in Burgundy and Loire Valley


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This vintage is going to be awful, assuming there even *is* a vintage - my sources are telling me that several parcels in Burgundy have been entirely lost for the year, and that one well-known producer is combining multiple Premier Cru vineyards into a generic "Bourgogne," or perhaps a generic village wine (such as "Chambolle-Musigny"), but the "Premier Cru" designation won't be there. This is, of course, up to each producer to decide, but suffice it to say: 2016 is a disaster in both Burgundy and the Loire Valley (which includes Vouvray, Sancerre, Chinon, etc.).

Apr 28, 2016 -  "Burgundy Hit by 'Worst Frost Since 1981'" by Chris Mercer on decanter.com

This article is not new, but I assure you it's current: The repercussions of this frost will be devastating to the winegrowers.

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On 7/6/2016 at 10:17 AM, DonRocks said:

This vintage is going to be awful, assuming there even *is* a vintage - my sources are telling me that several parcels in Burgundy have been entirely lost for the year, and that one well-known producer is combining multiple Premier Cru vineyards into a generic "Bourgogne," or perhaps a generic village wine (such as "Chambolle-Musigny"), but the "Premier Cru" designation won't be there. This is, of course, up to each producer to decide, but suffice it to say: 2016 is a disaster in both Burgundy and the Loire Valley (which includes Vouvray, Sancerre, Chinon, etc.).

Apr 28, 2016 -  "Burgundy Hit by 'Worst Frost Since 1981'" by Chris Mercer on decanter.com

This article is not new, but I assure you it's current: The repercussions of this frost will be devastating to the winegrowers.

"Hail-Hit French Winemakers Allowed to Buy in Grapes" by Caroline Henry on decanter.com

This is a tough situation, and a tough ruling to make - allowing winemakers to buy grapes, but only from their own appellations (which are devastated, so where will they buy the grapes?).

A parallel would be if there was a killer frost in Virginia, and a rule was passed allowing winemakers to buy grapes, but only from Virginia.

As a lowercase-c conservative, I think it's necessary to prevent wines from being sold as, for example, "Chambolle-Musigny" unless each-and-every grape comes from the village of Chambolle-Musigny. I know that *sucks* for the winemakers, but it must be done to maintain integrity.

Will there be fraud on the part of winegrowers? Will winegrowers purchase grapes from outside their own regions, thus breaking the law? Of course, but what's to prevent that from being done *anyway*, even in good years? The answer is "inspection and enforcement," but that doesn't mean everyone is a saint, and there's no way to prevent the rules from being broken in all cases - there just isn't.

For the consumer: Stick with producers and importers whom you trust, and purchase the wines for near-term consumption - these will not be vins de garde.

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The impact of the frost on quantity is clear -- yields will be way down.  But the effect on quality is far less clear -- there may be some fine wines produced.  Everything depends on the weather up to the time of harvest, not to mention many other variables.  We just have to wait and see.  Whatever good wine is produced will certainly be expensive given the reduced quantities.  

The advice to stick with producers whom one trusts is always good, but of course how can one be sure of whom to trust?  Many "trustworthy" producers over the years have been found not to deserve the trust.  Wine is always a bit of a crapshoot.  Considering how little wine is produced in Burgundy anyway, it's a pretty academic discussion for just about everybody these days.  Like those articles in car magazines about Italian supercars -- nice to read but of little practical significance for 99.999% of car buyers.  I was lucky to be able to afford good Burgundies when I got started in wine, over 40 years ago, but those days are long gone, frost or no frost.

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16 minutes ago, johnb said:

 I was lucky to be able to afford good Burgundies when I got started in wine, over 40 years ago, but those days are long gone. 

You still can afford good Burgundies - the key is to ignore (or better yet, sell) the big names, and focus on buying "lesser" wines, such as Savigny-lès-Beaune, etc. 

"The Supreme Value of Pavelot, Bize: Savigny-lès-Beaune" on downtoearthwines.net

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1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

You still can afford good Burgundies - the key is to ignore (or better yet, sell) the big names, and focus on buying "lesser" wines, such as Savigny-lès-Beaune, etc. 

"The Supreme Value of Pavelot, Bize: Savigny-lès-Beaune" on downtoearthwines.net

Yes agreed.  When I said "good" I was I was referring mostly to high reputation, premier and grand "cru" stuff.  That said, based on what I was fortunate to taste over the years, while the "lesser" ones can certainly be good, the big names can be blockbusters.  To cite one personal example, the '62 Chambertin Clos St. Jacque of Claire-dau just blew away anything I've ever tasted from among those"lesser-but-good" wines I've had, and it's not alone. What's more, back in the day, you could get wines in that league for under $100 a CASE.  The first case of burgundy I ever bought was a '64 Chassagne-Montrachet red Morgeot, and I paid $36 for the case.  I'll never forget it.  The next case I don't remember exactly but it was from Rene Engel and it was a Premier cru, also a '64, and I do remember I paid $48.  Ahh, the good ol' days.

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4 hours ago, johnb said:

The next case I don't remember exactly but it was from Rene Engel and it was a Premier cru, also a '64, and I do remember I paid $48.  Ahh, the good ol' days.

Your Engel was a Les Brulées (people forget that I came into the world of restaurants via the world of wine). :)

You paid *four dollars a bottle* for that wine? I'd pay four dollars *a sip*.

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1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

Your Engel was a Les Brulées (people forget that I came into the world of restaurants via the world of wine). :)

You paid *four dollars a bottle* for that wine? I'd pay four dollars *a sip*.

No it wasn't that one; Engel had bits and pieces of many fine vineyards in those days, including some Grand Crus if memory serves. As I think about it I think it may have been some Corton or other.  Somewhere in a box with thousands of others I'm sure I have a label from one of those bottles.  If I get really ambitious (not likely) maybe I'll hunt it down. That's another thing about the old days -- they didn't have modern glues back then, so you could actually soak labels off and preserve them.  Anyway, whatever it was, it certainly would be more than $4 a bottle these days, probably even more than $4 a sip.  Maybe a sniff.

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7 minutes ago, johnb said:

No it wasn't that one; Engel had bits and pieces of many fine vineyards in those days, including some Grand Crus if memory serves. As I think about it I think it may have been some Corton or other.  Somewhere in a box with thousands of others I'm sure I have a label from one of those bottles.  If I get really ambitious (not likely) maybe I'll hunt it down. That's another thing about the old days -- they didn't have modern glues back then, so you could actually soak labels off and preserve them.  Anyway, whatever it was, it certainly would be more than $4 a bottle these days, probably even more than $4 a sip.  Maybe a sniff.

I have a letter in to my super-duper double-top-secret wine list - someone on it will know which 1er Crus Engel produced in 64 - I thought he only made Brulées, but that was just an educated guess.

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