Burgundy 2007 Vintage report

It is easy to scoff when growers proclaim that “Dieu est un Bourguignon” but when another challenging growing season is saved at the eleventh hour, it is hard not to conclude that they might be onto something! Attuned as those Celestial powers may be to the meteorology of the Côte d’Or, it provides scarce comfort – few Burgundians were able to relax on such a fretful route to an ultimately glorious finish.

The winter of 2006/7 was mild but it was the unusual warmth of March and genuine heat of April that really accelerated the beginning of the vegetative cycle. As buds burst and flowering got under way, calculations pointed towards a mid-August harvest, earlier even than in 2003. What followed from May to mid-August is best forgotten – regular rain (although rarely heavy), overcast skies (although crucially not sunlight deficient) and unexciting temperatures: certainly not the ‘canicule’ or heat wave that was talked about.

The early start to the growing season was thus slowly eaten away and prayers were increasingly offered. In the last week of August, rewards for those hours spent kneeling at the altar arrived as fine weather returned at last, accompanied once again by the dry, concentrating north winds so loved by vignerons. Conditions for the harvest were nigh-on perfect.

These weather patterns are without parallel and in many ways, 2007 is a totally unique vintage. Indeed one learned vigneron calls the vintage 200% unique- one hundred for the April and one hundred for the return of the fine weather in later August and September! This is not just snappy marketing though- the gorgeous Spring weather set the cycle going much earlier than normal and if this had continued, as many predicted, the harvest would have been the earliest ever.

In many ways then, the cooler months were actually beneficial in slowing things down although the danger then was that the pattern was going too far in the other direction ie would the grapes actually fully ripen? So the fact that the weather broke when it did allowed the final ripening to occur at the perfect moment, during the final days of August and early September when the days are still relatively long and temperatures can be still quite elevated.

Throughout all of these difficult months, growers had to be present in the vines every day. “Intuition” Etienne Grivot reminded us, “is the best thing a vigneron can learn” but even if you don’t possess that natural genius, vigilance and thoughtfulness are at least as good. Success, in the form of healthy fruit, favoured those people who guarded against rot pre-emptively, rather than reactively, and who managed their canopies in such a way as to maximise sunlight rather than protect from it, as the conditions of April might have suggested they should.

Once again, triage was critical but only the laziest growers were forced to discard large quantities of rotten fruit. With growers of the calibre found in these pages, there is simply no cause for concern at all and the amount of times the word ‘purity’ emerges in the tasting notes is no accident. In the end, a remarkable, ‘normal’ sized harvest was brought in. The Pinots were thin-skinned but of great potential aromatic interest thanks to the cooler, softly-softly, pattern of ripening. The Chardonnays were analytically high in their malic and tartaric acid levels but nothing that a good, long malolactic fermentation couldn’t deal with. All in all, the crop held high promise but especially to those who had put in the hours demanded and answered the challenges presented.

With sorting tables now ubiquitous in Burgundy, the chance of anything but ripe fruit ending up in the vat is vastly diminished. Those fragile-skinned Pinots required careful handling once more, with remontage preferable to pigeage and with cooler fermentation temperatures to preserve the bright aromas. Most growers chaptalised by half a degree or so but it is important to understand that this is a positive when done lightly and with care. The addition of sugar was not done in the search for higher alcohol levels but instead to permit a longer, more extended fermentation which when carefully temperature-controlled allowed far more aromatic complexity to be drawn out than would have been possible in a shorter, hotter fermentation.

The quality of the lees is an obsession of many growers and in a year when the embryonic wines were not naturally rich, interaction with the lees takes on greater relevance. Whether the chosen method is the traditional batonnage or the more modern rolling of the barrels on special wheeled stands to mix the lees without exposure to air, this is still, ultimately, little more than fine tuning. Winemakers at this level acknowledge that minimal intervention is nearly always preferable. It is the quality of the fruit at the outset which holds the full potential of the quality of the final product and every intervention by man in between risks to take away if not done with skill, precision and careful thought.

In terms of style, the whites are pure, precise, sappy, mineral and with admirable tension. They are racy and predominantly with a citric bent to their fruit character but they also have considerable charm and most closely resemble a more flattering version of the 2004s or a less backward, less concentrated version of the 2002s. They portray the individual climats exquisitely and although one suspects that it will be the mineral character which will eventually dominate, they also have an approachability which will enthral fruit lovers in their youth. They are not, though, in any way rich, boisterous and heavy apart from where a winemaker has intervened to detrimental effect.

The reds were very hard to taste on our early visits in June – awkward, ungainly and adolescent – but by the time we were returned in November, there had been an extraordinary transformation. Colours were much deeper than expected and fragrances positively soared from the tasting glass – to see a wine such as d’Angerville’s great Clos des Ducs (which can often be very reserved in cask) expressing itself with such openness and such gorgeous aromatics really enthuses the taster who is after Pinot at its most transparent, most fine and most ethereal.

Tannins (thanks to those fragile skins again) are generally low in number and fully ripe but very supple in texture and while that means that they will not provide as great a backbone for long-term ageing as in a year such as 2005, quite frankly, that is no bad thing – we need something to drink!

In our opinion, what we do have is very classic – but before you roll your eyes over the use of that word, permit us to explain. This is a truly Burgundian vintage, producing a style of wine that no other region in the world can get close to.

We would encourage you to disregard the notion of certain villages outperforming others in this vintage – we did not find any true pattern and suspect that, the odd localised hailstorm aside, the climatic challenges were largely shared across the Côte. Instead, you should continue to follow your favourite growers and where you find them in these pages, their wines will serve you well. Additionally though, there are exciting new sources and insider secrets which you should discover. Please call the team, or even better, come to taste on 14th January to meet the growers in person – you will not regret it for a second.

The global downturn is inescapable and even sleepy towns such as Nuits St Georges or Beaune have heard the news of Lehman Brothers and Northern Rock. Despite the great costs of this vintage particularly from the number of man hours and the rising costs of fuel and other variables during 2007, growers are by and large responding by keeping their prices to the same levels as last year. Their cellars have been emptied of 2005s and the 2006s have also sold well.

New markets, as we reported last year, have been successfully found and it is noticeable how international the visitor books are today at the Domaine door. At Bouchard Père et Fils, the wines are now proudly exported to 60 markets around the world, very different from even 10 years ago and even smaller family domaines such as Taupenot Merme in Morey are regularly receiving clients from Russia, Canada, Australia and the many markets of the Far East.In short, there is still plenty of demand for these rare wines.

Our situation in the UK is that of a weakened currency, trading against a strengthening Euro and inevitably prices have risen when converted into sterling. However, we wish to provide as much incentive as possible for confirming your orders early and therefore giving this vintage the strong support that it deserves.

Long time drinkers and collectors of great Burgundy will know that competition for the very finest and scarcest cuvées is always very fierce but it is always worth repeating this, especially for those discovering the joys of Burgundy for the first time. Where demand exceeds supply, we will always favour those customers who balance their demands across the board as well as those who have supported in previous vintages.

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