Whilst judging wines from the barrel is rarely an exact science, it is crystal clear that the quality of the 2012 Burgundy vintage is very, very, high. To my mind, there is more energy and more richness than 2010, more precision than 2009, and more weight and structure than the delicious 2011s. Indeed, I can’t remember being so impressed at this stage since tasting the 2005s.
Sadly, there is very little wine. In some appellations there is less than a third or even a quarter of what would normally be produced. For those who count the barrels in cellars, this year is easy: where there would normally be 20, there are five or six. What is in the barrels, though, is exceptional.
This is the third short crop in a row for Burgundy (and 2013 is still in the balance), in a region where great wines are already scarce. This will no doubt be an expensive vintage, but with so little wine available and clearly exceptional quality, I think that they will sell, and sell well. At the same time, I can’t see what is left of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 vintages on the market hanging around for long. There may well be oceans of young Bordeaux on the market, but the scarcity of Burgundy is no better illustrated than by a visit to a cellar. The number of barrels of 2012 Volnay Santenots in Maison Jadot’s cellar? Four, which equates to around 100 cases. Not so much for the whole world...
One of the highlights of our trip was an extensive tasting at Maison Louis Jadot, where we were simply knocked out by the quality (and the small production was quite clear: their grand cru cellar was half full at best).
Maison Jadot is ideal for “vintage evaluation” tasting. Quality is both high and uniform, and the range enables one to taste the entire length of the Cote from south to north. Winemaker Frederic Barnier is clearly up to the job of making excellent wines across what is an impressive range and fills the boots of Jacques Lardier most impressively.
Looking back through my notes, the words that stand out from wine to wine are “weight”, “intensity”, “lift”, “ripe” and “impressive”.
2012 is a great vintage. The wines have ripe, sweet, punchy fruit, yet an underpinning of fresh acidity and very fine tannins. They fill the mouth. Moreover, like 2011, this is a real “terroir” vintage: Chambolle seduces, Vosne whispers its class and Gevrey flexes its muscles.
With quality this high and quantities this low, releases may well be a bit of a bun fight.
