BURGUNDY 2016 - THE VERDICT
January is always an interesting time in the wine trade. Every year the hard-working Burgundian winemakers scrub themselves up and showcase their latest vintage at importer tastings in lavish old halls across London. It’s all handshakes and smiles as the winemakers and importers big up the vintage. Those tasting the wines in turn make sounds of satisfaction while swirling the young juice in their mouths and giving the thumbs up to the pourers, no matter the actual opinion. With the 2016 vintage however, most of those gestures of affirmation are genuine.
Once all the pleasantries are done, the scramble for the finest and rarest bottles commences. In a vintage like 2016 it makes the game even harder, with frost and hail during the growing season indiscriminately knocking out yields across the Cote d’Or. Even the mighty Grand Cru vineyards didn’t hold impunity from Mother Nature’s wrath with many suffering significant yield loss. The damage across the Cote was uneven, but in general 2016 is characterised by less wine.
The end of the summer fortunately brought ideal ripening weather and the winemakers were very happy with the berries they were actually able to bring back from the vineyards. We took the picture above whilst picking in Savigny-Les-Beaune during the 2016 harvest and while the bunches were sparse, the fruit we put in the baskets was in beautiful shape. The reds in general are characterised by ripe, but not overly ripe, juicy fruits with soft tannins and good acidity. If chosen wisely you will find classic and classy quality. The whites generally are pure and zingy, perhaps more suited to earlier drinking, but isn’t that what wine is all about.
At Roberson we import directly the seriously good value wines of Domaine Pierre Guillemot and Domaine Chavy-Chouet. Two producers whose wines won’t break the bank but will provide you with fantastic drinking. We do also scour the market for wines from some of the top names which we will be offering over the coming weeks. If you would like to receive these offers, please do drop us an email and we would be delighted to discuss what we can offer.
