Our team spent several weeks exploring the 2023 vintage in Burgundy – visiting, tasting and talking to a range of producers up and down the Côte d’Or. Here, we offer a run-down of the year by producer, from north to south, reporting on how each fared and our pick of their range this year

A run-down of the Burgundy 2023 vintage wines en primeur by producer: from Fourrier to Lafon via Bernstein, Lamarche, Lambrays, Duroche and Hudelot-Noellat 

Burgundy 2023 vintage by producer 

Burgundy 2023: by producer

This year sees the release of the 20th vintage of Cheval des Andes – Cheval Blanc’s operation in Mendoza. Since the team from the legendary Saint-Emilion estate embarked on the venture with Terrazas de los Andes, 25 years ago, much has changed – and this is the start of a new era for the property. What was once a working concept has taken root.  “This is the beginning of our adult life,” says Technical Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet. “We have a real identity today.” It’s taken a quarter-century for the property to shake off the uncertainty of youth and find firm footing – something that hasn’t necessarily been easy.  “We made mistakes,” Clouet confesses. Not having a historic reputation to rely on, the team at Cheval des Andes had sought out high scores, chasing points to prove their worth. But, in a still Parker-dominant era, that meant making wines with “ripe grapes, a lot of extraction, a high level of alcohol – you [had] to show the muscle to explain that you are a great wine”, explains Clouet. “For a long time, the recipe was in the cellar; nobody cared where the vines were.” Now, however, that’s all changed.  From 2011, the team started shifting focus to the vineyard, working more closely with their French counterparts and vice-versa. The arrival of Lorenzo Pasquini (now the man at the helm of Ch. d’Yquem) in 2015 was key to the transition, as Cheval des Andes started to focus on a shared vision of fine wine – one that is about freshness, balance and ageing potential, and one that defines Cheval Blanc.  Only with a few wrong turns, however, can you be sure you’re on the right path – and Clouet is clear that those first 16 years, figuring out what Cheval des Andes should and could be, has been “super important” in helping them build “something with real sincerity, real authenticity”. Most importantly, Cheval des Andes is not intended to be, nor is a copy of Cheval Blanc: “It is, in our mind, absolutely an Argentine wine,” says Clouet.  The original 31-hectare vineyard is in Las Compuertas in Luján de Cuyo, a subregion of Mendoza. It is on these clay-dominant soils at around 1,000 metres’ altitude that Pierre Lurton discovered a plot of ungrafted Malbec in 1998. Planted in 1929, the vine material pre-dates phylloxera, descended from a selection imported to Argentina in 1852 – back when the grape dominated Bordeaux. This selection is key to the DNA of Cheval des Andes and, along with the huge diurnal shift, produces Malbec that is fresh, precise, perfumed and delicately structured. For Clouet, the “true” Malbec is closer to Pinot Noir in style – more floral than fruit-led, vibrant and even ethereal.  In 2001, the team purchased an additional parcel in La Consulta in the Uco Valley, at higher altitude and with more gravel-driven soils, a cooler site that has an even more significant diurnal swing in temperature. While they once might have used only a fraction of the estate to produce the flagship wine, they have moved to using as much as they can – to create a pure expression of the entire property, declassifying only plots that don’t fit in the blend or meet their stringent quality standards.  All 50 hectares are farmed with the same philosophy as their vines in Saint-Emilion – employing extensive cover crops, trees scattered throughout the vineyard, and with the same incredible attention to detail and focus on sustainability. “We work with the same vision and the same conviction,” says Clouet. One key difference, of course, is that irrigation is essential in this part of Argentina – but, here again, they’ve changed tack over the last decade or so. Rather than traditional modern drip irrigation where necessary water would be eked out drop by drop over the season as needed (“too artificial”, Clouet tells me), they irrigate extensively over the winter to ensure the soils are replenished fully between seasons (as well as help protect ungrafted vines against phylloxera), then – on a plot by plot basis – when the vines are starting to suffer, they give the vines around 40mm of water (still via drip irrigation), over 24-48 hours, replicating a day or two of steady rainfall.  They’ve reduced the height of the canopy (the engine of the vine for sugar production), while using trees, cover crops and minimal leaf-pulling to avoid sunburn. They’ve started pruning each vine according to its vigour, and are now picking significantly earlier – as much as two months earlier than 15 years ago. With this detail in the vineyard, the challenge is simply to guide the fruit through the winery: “No mistakes is enough in the cellar,” says Clouet.  In some ways, the wine echoes Cheval Blanc. While the Saint-Emilion property blends Cabernet Franc and Merlot, Cheval des Andes focuses on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon – the Malbec bringing freshness and silkiness that complements the backbone of powerful Cabernet. And the Cheval Blanc style, one of restraint and precision, shines through in recent vintages of the wine – and especially the soon-to-be-released 2021. As Clouet tells me, “Our vision is absolutely delicacy, freshness, balance, ageing potential, complexity.” Unlike Cheval Blanc, however, which needs 10 years in bottle to start even hinting at its potential, Cheval des Andes offers an immediacy – something that Clouet is clear doesn’t inhibit its ability to last; the 2021, for example, can be drunk now, but will evolve over the next 25 years at least, he tells me.  Even the association with the Cheval Blanc name doesn’t make Cheval des Andes an easy sell to fine wine lovers; but that, says Clouet, is part of what makes it fun – a challenge for the team to be pushed. Even better, his team gets the chance to learn and make wine not just once a year, but twice, as well as gaining additional insight on how Cheval Blanc might adapt to climate change. But Cheval des Andes isn’t just an intellectual exercise (that is merely an added bonus), Clouet firmly believes in the potential of this site – something they’re now finally beginning to realise. Browse all current Cheval des Andes listings or read more Editorial 

For 25 years, Cheval Blanc – one of Saint-Emilion’s leading names – has been crafting wine in Argentina. We sat down with Pierre-Olivier Clouet to find out more about the project today, and why the 2021 vintage is the most exciting to date

Technical Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet on the start of a new chapter at Cheval des Andes, the Argentinian wine project from Saint-Emilion’s Cheval Blanc

Turning the page at Cheval des Andes

“We take risks every day,” Vanessa Martin says to me. If you didn’t know we were standing in a winery, you might think Martin was a fighter pilot, a firewoman or perhaps a double agent. The two women standing in front of me, Martin and her colleague Chantal Uldry, aren’t necessarily the image of risk-takers – but through their hands have passed thousands of bottles of one of the world’s most precious wines: Ch. d’Yquem. It might not be life or death, but this liquid is so prized that it can seem it.  The lone Sauternes or Barsac estate to be declared a Premier Cru Supérieur in 1855, Ch. d’Yquem has a long history stretching back to the Middle Ages. The wine crafted from this property, at the highest point in Sauternes, has been lauded for centuries. It was savoured by the likes of Thomas Jefferson in the 1800s, while Jay-Z and Beyoncé visited late last year. The property and its wines are the stuff of legend, sought out by wine lovers and collectors around the world.  Production of this sweet nectar is painstaking – the vines cared for meticulously through the year, and the fruit only harvested if Mother Nature provides the right conditions for botrytis cinerea, aka “noble rot” to develop. If everything is in their favour, with just the right amount of moisture and heat at the right time, this fungus will work its way into the bunches of grapes, piercing the skin, concentrating the acid and sugar in the grapes, as well as lending its own distinctive spicy, marmalade aromas. Yquem’s team will pass through the vines up to six times, picking individual bunches and berries that are ready. Yields are miniscule, with approximately just one glass of wine made by each vine.  Once the fruit has made its way into the winery, been pressed, fermented and aged in barrel, with only the best selected for the final blend, the wine must be bottled and labelled – prepared for its début in the world. And this is where Martin and Uldry come in, part of the team who ensures that every bottle that leaves the premises is worthy of the Ch. d’Yquem name.   “We seek perfection,” Martin tells me. She has been working at the estate for two decades, having started out in the vineyards before moving into the winery, having worked with the property’s longtime winemaker Sandrine Garbay on the vinification as well as bottling and labelling, and now under the current Maître de Chai Toni El Khawand. Martin, like Uldry, is local – and wine is the region’s trade. Her parents worked amongst the vines, so she followed in their footsteps. But she didn’t love it, she found the yearly cycle repetitive – doing the same thing year in, year out – and asked to move. “This job, it changes every day,” she tells me, of her role in the winery. “I see different people every day; my work changes every day.” Watching the team work is remarkable. While much is mechanised today, everything is checked by a human member of the team. Martin takes a bottle off the line to check a label, whips out a tape measure and tuts before carefully peeling the back label off and reapplying it one millimetre further up the bottle. I watch one of their colleagues lining up a ruler against a double-magnum (all the large formats are still labelled by hand), re-applying a label five times to ensure it is just right. At another station, a woman delicately rolls each bottle in translucent tissue paper, wrapping each one with the same soft touch, before gently laying each one in a case.  Uldry was set to retire at the end of last year, after 23 years at Ch. d’Yquem. Like Martin, she’s seen much change at the estate, with its evolution under LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), who have invested greatly since they purchased the property in 1999. She recalls how they used to wash the bottles by hand, and the machinery was much clunkier – whereas now it is a very slick operation, with standards higher than ever before.  There was a period when the château did a lot of reconditioning – old vintages would be sent back to them to be checked, authenticated, topped up and re-corked, as well as possibly re-labelled, before being sent back to a merchant or collector. As such, both Martin and Uldry have seen some extraordinarily old bottles, and – luckily for them – had the chance to taste some of them. Martin tasted 1921, while Uldry’s experience stretches back to the 1904 vintage – wines that they struggle to find words to describe. I recall Sandrine Garbay telling me about a bottle from the 19th century that was in a cellar in Spain, but was accidentally broken, and the sommelier team urgently called the château, cradling the bottle as they drove up to Bordeaux, desperate to save the precious wine.  “It's a source of pride that these bottles go all over the world,” Uldry says, when I ask about the ultimate destination of the wine that passes through their hands. They’re well aware of the value of the wine they’re handling, the impact of any breakage, and how crucial their role is. It is, after all, the final step for these bottles before they leave the estate, heading out into the world as ambassadors for the Yquem legacy. And many of the bottles, if not most, of the 2021 vintage (which has just been released) will outlive those that made it. As Martin says, their work isn’t about today – but tomorrow: “We’re leaving it for the generations that follow.” Explore all current listings of Ch. d’Yquem or read more about Bordeaux  

To craft world-class wine, every stage of production demands an obsessive attention to detail – and it’s just so at Ch. d’Yquem. In the latest instalment of our series taking you behind the scenes in Bordeaux, we talk to those who ensure every bottle of liquid gold is nothing less than perfect 

Exploring the art and craft of labelling each and every bottle of liquid gold from top Sauternes estate, Ch. d’Yquem – the world’s best sweet wine 

Gilding the future at Ch. d’Yquem

 Gilding the future: Ch. d’Yquem    

2021 RICHEBOURG, GRAND CRU, DOMAINE HUDELOT-NOËLLAT From a mere 0.28 hectares, this is a seductive and regal Grand Cru in 2021. The aristocracy of this site shines through, with haunting perfume and sumptuous depths to the sweet fruit. It’s elegant yet rich, with nuanced, smoky tones and outstandingly fine tannins that add texture to the long and plush palate of this very fine Pinot Noir. A remarkable wine. 2021 LATRICIÈRES-CHAMBERTIN, GRAND CRU, DOMAINE DAVID DUBAND Duband’s Latricières comes from a 0.3-hectare plot of 60-year-old vines in the Grand Cru, sandwiched between plots that belong to Leroy and Chantal Rémy. In 2021 it’s spicy and perfumed – the wine leaping out of the glass. Florals, pepper and incense mingle with bright yet delicate crushed raspberry fruit. Silken and fine-boned, this is beautifully elegant, with a long mineral finish. 2021 CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY, PREMIER CRU, LES CHARMES, REMOISSENET PÈRE & FILS This pretty Chambolle combines predictable florals and sweet strawberry with an almost blackcurrant note. The palate is lush and long, with chalky structure and crushed-raspberry fruit. It’s a wine, however, that is all about its finesse – effortless and fine-boned Pinot Noir. 2021 BEAUNE, PREMIER CRU, LES TUVILAINS, DOMAINE GEORGES NOËLLAT Maxime Cheurlin’s range is charming in 2021 – and this was a particular highlight. The nose is bright, with raspberry lift and brightness – but it’s concentrated and pure. A wave of soft, crushed wild strawberry washes over the palate – bright and pure, yet with a darker edge to it. The tannins are powdered and fine, adding the slightest grip to the palate. The finish is long and savoury. 2021 MOREY-SAINT-DENIS, PREMIER CRU, LES SORBÉS, CHARLES VAN CANNEYT Charles van Canneyt’s line-up this year is superb. This Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru with free-draining soils produced a silken wine. The fruit here is dark yet bright, with a beautiful density to the palate – a vivid concentration and mouth-watering freshness, building to a crunchy, red-fruited finish. 
2021 CLOS DE LA ROCHE, GRAND CRU, OLIVIER BERNSTEIN From vines that average 50 years in age, this offers incredible density – especially in 2021. The nose is pure dark cherry, not revealing much at this nascent stage. Like a gawky teenager, it’s waiting to reveal its potential, but the palate offers glimpses of what lies ahead – with smoky, savoury tones, fine – almost Italianate – dusty, tannins and bright juicy red fruit, building towards an elegant, nuanced finish. Impressive. 
 

2021 CLOS DES LAMBRAYS, GRAND CRU, DOMAINE DES LAMBRAYS Domaine des Lambrays’s flagship site is almost but not quite a monopole, with an ouvrée – less than 0.2 of the total 8.84 hectares – at the bottom of the clos belonging to Taupenot-Merme. Yields here were slashed in half in 2021, not helped by now farming biodynamically. Most of the vines (71%) date from between 1898 and 1935, while the lowest section of the vineyard is 40 years old, and 3% of the vines are spritely 20-somethings that are currently de-classified. It is fascinating tasting three sections of this large Grand Cru separately and then all the parcels as a blend, seeing how each one contributes its own character. We started with the firm, linear Plante Bas, then the more expressive, prettier Cerisiers on the Clos de Tart side, and the intense, powerful 50 Ouvrées. Combined, the result is intense, silken and long. It’s round but focused, with incredible energy and the finest texture. Gorgeous floral perfume adds a lightness to the fruit – an explosion of red cherry that fills the palate, making it seem approachable even now. A fresh, herbal twist makes the finish utterly moreish. 2021 PULIGNY-MONTRACHET, PREMIER CRU, CLOS DE LA MOUCHÈRE, DOMAINE HENRI BOILLOT Boillot’s four-hectare monopole Clos de la Mouchère is always a favourite – the shame in 2021 is that he made less than 20% of the normal production of this flagship wine. This sub-section of Perrières produces a particularly honeyed expression of the site. It’s a real step up and contrast to the already impressive village Puligny, with intense and powerful fruit expression. Cooked apricot, white peach and Amalfi lemon peel leap out of the glass, yet on the palate it’s incredibly tightly wound – with a concentrated core that will need time to reveal itself fully. The acidity here is exhilarating, driving through the fruit to a saline finish lifted by a sherbet freshness.  2021 BIENVENUES BÂTARD-MONTRACHET, GRAND CRU, ALVINA PERNOT In 2021, this is laden with generous, almost heady fruit – peach and pineapple making for a voluptuous wine that envelops you. It’s creamy and layered on the palate with incredible texture that builds with sweet spice adding complexity. It’s concentrated, full and rich with real Grand Cru concentration. Only two barrels made.  2021 CORTON CHARLEMAGNE, GRAND CRU, DOMAINE FAIVELEY The Corton Charlemagne was the last wine of our tasting at Faiveley this year – and what a way to finish. They managed to harvest just 12hl/ha from this site, one that normally is never hit by frost, yet was in 2021. The resulting wine is beautifully concentrated, with a chalky, bright citrus nose. It’s open and sunny, yet also taut – with a line of vibrant, limey acidity that runs through the entire length of the wine. The citrus fruit is complemented by light, honeyed notes and white blossom. 
Browse all available Burgundy or read more about the vintage 

The 2021 vintage in the Côte d’Or produced some wonderful wines – perfumed Pinot Noir and taut Chardonnay, wines that will appeal to classic Burgundy-lovers. Of all the wines we’ve tasted so far, these are our 10 favourites 

Discover our top 10 wines tasted from the Burgundy 2021 vintage so far – from up and down the Cote d’Or

Our favourite wines from Burgundy 2021

Burgundy 2021: our favourites

The Burgundy buzz has reached fever pitch this weekend with all of the leading critics
publishing their thoughts and scores on the vintage, followed by the majority of Burgundy’s top producers showcasing the vintage in both London and Hong Kong.

Amongst all the chatter we spoke to winemaker and proprietor Chantal Tortochot whose
wines in 2018 offer fantastic value for the quality. If you are slightly blindsided by the volume of releases over the last few weeks, you won’t go wrong with Domaine Tortochot’s stunning Chambertin. A great buy of the vintage. Whilst Domaine Tortochot doesn’t carry the cachet of the very top domains in Gevrey Chambertin, it does offer some of the best value, producing wines with great terroir transparency in their top Premier Crus and Grand Crus and fabulous drinkability with their village wines. They are a domaine that truly excelled in 2018.  Their consistency in style is testament to the skills at work at the domaine. They have a distinct finesse and lightness of touch and the tannin profile remains incredibly elegant right through their portfolio of wines whilst the natural concentration of fruit and earthy minerality provide structure and intensity on the palate.  Celebrated winemaker in his own right Sylvain Pataille has been the consultant winemaker
at the domaine for the last 20 years alongside owner and winemaker Chantal Tortochot, who has a real energy and honesty to her approach. When we met, she spoke a million miles an hour as I tried to scribble down all her evident words of wisdom. Whilst the team have been working together for 20 years, in the last five years they have amended their winemaking to accommodate the obvious climatic changes they see affecting this new era of Burgundy. Whole-bunch and climate change 
Chantal has introduced 25% whole bunch grapes into their fermentations to counter the lower acidity brought about by the warmer climate. Initially, this might seem counter-productive as the stems contain lots of potassium, something that effectively lowers the acidity in the wine. But as Chantal explains, the stems bring three additional things to the wine – potassium, water and most importantly mineral salts.  These mineral salts produce a distinct salinity on the palate, which creates a similar effect to acid. Tasting the wines, the stemmy, herbal notes, sometimes more overt in higher proportions of whole bunch fermentation, is not at all evident in the wines of Tortochot, but the vibrant salinity on the finish certainly is, creating a lovely uplifting vibrancy to the wines. A reduction in new oak They have also greatly reduced the amount of new oak. With the fruit naturally riper and
the tannins more subtle in the warmer climate, they felt they can diminish the new oak allowing more fruit purity on the palate. Chantal talks about how over the last 20 years, she feels the climate has completely changed and for the moment, for the better. They now have no need to chapitalise (adding sugar at fermentation to raise the potential alcohol level), a traditional process carried out throughout Burgundy. Outside of France, the process is seen
by many as a manipulation of a wine, a process banned in many other fine wine
Pinot Noir growing regions. Rather than raising the alcohol levels through chapitalisation, Domaine Tortochot are
looking at ways to lower the natural alcohol levels. They are currently experimenting with special yeasts that effectively lower the alcohol through having less efficiency in converting sugars to alcohol whilst still fermenting to dryness.  The wines      Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru - Lavaux St Jacques 2018, Domaine Tortochot This cooler site in Gevrey excelled in 2018 contrasting a wonderful mouth-watering freshness with viscous, dense, juicy fruit. There is deceptive power too underlying the raspberry, and fresh red cherry fruit. The wine retains a wonderful finesse with fine tannins, incredibly silky in texture, and an underlying earthy minerality adding nuance and a quiet intensity to the wine. Not as nervy as the 2017 tasted alongside, but much more concentration and textural richness.
  Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 2018, Domaine Tortochot Out of the Grand Crus it was the less open at this stage and deceptively structural for Charmes. Despite this, the Tortochot style is here in spades with wonderful perfumed, pure, red berry fruit and very fine tannins. The structure on the back end of the wine combined with a sustained pure, perfumed fruit flavour is impressive. The balance and structure to this wine gives it a great ageing potential.  Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru 2018, Domaine Tortochot Incredibly powerful Mazis Chambertin, whose structure just builds and builds on the palate. The tannins are dense, yet fine grained, providing a beautiful layering on the palate. The fruit profile remains firmly in the red berry spectrum and opulent in its character, providing fantastic breadth on the palate, the counter-pointing vibrant acidity creating lift too. This wine is both refined and powerful managing to balance the contrasting elements beautifully.  Chambertin Grand Cru 2018, Domaine Tortochot Just seven beautiful barrels of this made, of which we had the fortune to taste from two
separate barrels with similar notes. It was the highlight of the tasting at Tortochot and incredibly impressive. The wine is so dense and opulent yet nervy and energised, with both the gourmand structural power and the uplifting ethereal notes. The savoury, darker, brooding spice notes beautifully contrast with uplifting bright red berry fruits (red cherry, redcurrant). The wine is both viscous and refreshing with a fabulous purity, clarity and a long length.  Browse more Editorial

Domaine Tortochot is the top value pick from Gevrey Chambertin in 2018. We look at how the domaine has adapted as the climate in Burgundy has changed.

A portrait on Domaine Tortochot

Producer portrait: Domaine Tortochot

The history of Piedmont as a fine wine region and the establishment of Nebbiolo as a single-varietal wine predates the unification of Italy. Yet the region’s rise to international fame as Italy’s finest wine was intrinsically linked to the political role that the Piedmont Kingdom played in the unification of Italy. Nebbiolo as Italy’s first single-varietal wine The decision to move away from the generic field blends more typical of wine production in Italy at the time, to a single varietal Nebbiolo, was the first step towards Barolo gaining prominence. This decision also came about through aristocratic influence by the Piedmont nobility at the height of its power, prior to the unification of Italy in 1861. In the 1830s the Marchesi de Barolo married a French aristocrat who as part of her entourage brought with her a talented French oenologist, who after experimenting with many French varietals in the region quickly identified the potential of the indigenous Nebbiolo as a potential single varietal superstar! This French oenologist started to produce single-varietal Nebbiolo on the Marchesi de Barolo’s vineyards and it wasn’t long before the wines gained a reputation amongst the aristocratic classes. The King of Piedmont contacted the Marchesi requesting to taste this wine made from just Nebbiolo that everyone was talking about. The King became a huge fan of the wines and it wasn’t long before the Marchesi was sending 365 barrels of Nebbiolo
to the King for him and his courts to enjoy throughout the year. From then on Nebbiolo as a single varietal had begun to secure its place in fine wine history. The establishment of Barolo It wasn’t long before the King purchased his own wine estate in Barolo, which now exists under the ownership of Frescabaldi. The Piedmont kingdom was the conquering force in the unification of Italy along with the help of the French army that finally conquered the Spanish rule of Sicily and southern Italy and eventually Rome leaving just the Vatican and the Pope isolated from the rest of the newly
declared unified state of Italy in 1861. Amazingly there was no diplomatic relationship between the Vatican State and the Italian government until Mussolini reached out to them in 1932. The power of the Piedmont kingdom and its role in the unification of Italy meant that Barolo retained its status with the aristocratic elites of Italy and beyond and became known as the premium wine-producing region of the newly declared country. Its prominence and reputation remained ever since. The Barolo region became renowned throughout the country and Nebbiolo took its crown as the king of Italian wine. Barolo following the unification became more and more established with merchants moving in to seize the opportunity of this prestigious and unique Italian wine. At this time, apart from the noble families (Marchesi Di Barolo, Rinaldi, Bourgogno) all the
rest of the Barolo wines were bottled in Alba under merchant’s labels. Alba, much like Bordeaux, became a thriving merchants hub and the wine began to be exported overseas. Barbaresco: the unfortunate struggling sibling to Barolo History is full of cruel twists and the development of Barbaresco for much of the 19th and 20th centuries was a struggle for survival, unlike their more established neighbour Barolo - with its royal seal of approval. Today Barbaresco is being seen very much as Barolo’s equal but its survival is in no doubt down to two central figures of the region Gaja and the Produttori Di Barbaresco. 
The history of Gaja of Barbaresco The history of Gaja is extraordinary and singular in its rise to fame in the region and is a testament to the foresight of Giovanni Gaja and his son and French wife Clothide Rey. The Gaja family were not nobility but farmers, yet they became the first to bottle their own wine in Barbaresco in 1859. This became possible because the family owned a small tavern in the town which catered for the merchants that passed through Barbaresco as it was an active Port, distributing goods. At the tavern, the Gaja family used to make their wine and serve them from jars at the restaurant. At that time all other growers would sell their grapes to merchants in Alba to make wine.  Buoyed by the income of selling their own wines at their tavern Giovanni Gaja in 1859 then decided to bottle his best barrels in bottle (at this time this was often a blend of vintages). But these became the first Barbarescos ever to be bottled as Barbaresco. The family became further governed by quality when Angelo Gaja and his wife Clothide Rey took over from
his father. Their qualitative approach philosophy in a region that at the time was so underdeveloped is extraordinary. The family’s motto – fair, savoir faire, savoir faire faire et faire saviour (Work, knowledge, motivating others to work and passing on knowledge) has not faltered right up until today.  1958 was an important date for the Gaja family because this was recognised in Barolo as a fantastic vintage and it became the first vintage of Barolo to sell for over a 1,000 lira a bottle. The average price at the time for the best producers (such as Renato Ratti) was closer to 300 lira. This 1,000 lira price tag therefore became a big deal and was the beginning of Barolo
becoming recognised internationally as one of the world’s finest and most expensive wines. Yet despite this high price tag of Barolo, Giovanni Gaja was selling his current Barbaresco release at this time for 1,200 lira! This just showed the Barbaresco from Gaja even in those early days was outpricing the best wines of Barolo. The history of the Produttori del Barberesco The history of Barbaresco outside of the extraordinary success of Gaja was a lot less smooth. Through this period the region remained largely unknown for wine production despite successfully growing Nebbiolo like its neighbour Barolo and being home to the region’s best producer Gaja. However, there is another unique and profound development that took place in Barbaresco that also has shaped the region as one of Italy’s finest wine-producing regions for single varietal Nebbiolo that unlike Barolo did not rely on the aristocratic influence for its rise to fame. If anything, Barbaresco’s rise to fame, including Gaja’s development was the success of the
workers of the land rather than nobility. This came in the form of the socialist collective that started to bottle its own wine in Barbaresco under the Produttori Di Barberesco label.  Speaking with Aldo Vacca, today’s chief winemaker at the co-op it was a man called Dominizio Cavazza who was become known as the Father of Barbaresco. He moved to the region when he got a job working as the Director of the Wine School of Alba in 1890.  He immediately saw the potential of Barbaresco as a fine wine region and whilst he had no land, he knew if he could persuade the small landowners to compile their crops, he could make a fine wine that they could bottle and sell themselves rather than selling their crop to
the Alba merchants. By 1894 he had managed to persuade five farmers and two
landowners to contribute the crop and the cooperative was formed. At this time socialism was taking hold in many parts of Europe enabling small landowners to work together to enable them to manage their own produce without relying on the aristocratic landowners. Prior to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917, these socialist projects in Western Europe were seen as a very positive social development and was transforming the social structure across the region. Initially Cavazza believed that Barbaresco should be incorporated as part of the Barolo District but as Barolo by this time was already well established, thanks to its aristocratic ties, the Barolo producers had no interest in extending their boundaries. This decision in itself was to have a devastating impact on Barbaresco for the next 50 years. Whilst the cooperative became very successful in the early years, the First World War followed by economic hardship and the rise of fascism in Italy which actively shut down cooperatives in Europe, saw the Produttori cease to exist.  It wasn’t until 1954 that the co-operative project was reborn by the local priest – Don Fiorino, who on moving to the region heard about the early success of Cavazza and wanted to rekindle this success. For the priest the cooperative was essential in the survival of the local community that unlike Barolo was decimated by poverty and hardship through the first half of the 20th century. The 1950s saw the industrial boom in Italian cities which saw huge swathes of the countryside deserted as young men and women flocked to the cities for better wages in the automobile and other industries. To encourage people to stay in Barbaresco, Don Fiorino reopened the cooperative promising any landowners who joined him that they would be given fair and
reliable income if they stayed and worked the land. Dom Fiorino’s foresight was to be commended as ever since it opened the co-op has gone from strength to strength. Similar to Gaja, it is due to a strict qualitative approach that has meant this co-op is today producing arguably the world’s finished wines from a cooperative. These days, thanks to Gaja and Produttori, Barbaresco is producing some of Italy’s finest wines. Explore more Editorial 

We look back at the rise of Barolo and its neighbouring sibling Barbaresco's less fortunate, rocky road to fortune.


The historic rise of Nebbiolo

In an era where minimal intervention is so applauded, discussing the art, skill and work of a winemaker can be unfashionable. Producers can seem keen to gloss over or shy away from discussing the tricks of their trade. And tricks there undoubtedly are – as vintages like 2021 prove.  Jean-Antoine Chaptal was a man of many talents. Working in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he was a scientist and statesman whose interests varied from sugar beets to gunpowder and merino sheep. For wine-lovers, he has been immortalised thanks to his 1801 paper, L’art de faire, de gouverner et de perfectionner les vins – in which he introduced what we now call “chaptalisation”. It was nothing short of revolutionary.   During fermentation, yeast converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Chaptal realised that if you added additional sugar to raw grape juice, you could increase the final alcohol content of the wine. The sugar would, along with the natural sugars from the grapes, be fermented, producing a dry, but stronger wine, and – with alcohol a natural preservative – one that would keep better. Suddenly producers could give wines from cooler years a boost (with the alcohol adding much more than just ethanol). Some winemakers, of course, abused the technique – at one point in the early 20th century, the Languedoc reportedly produced twice as much wine as was feasible for the volume of grapes harvested.  Today the practice is strictly controlled by regulatory bodies, only permitted in cooler regions where it is deemed a useful tool, limited according to region and vintage conditions to protect quality. In marginal climates where ripeness isn’t guaranteed, chaptalisation has been the norm. Although you won’t find them in marketing pamphlets or Instagram feeds, bags of Tate & Lyle are widespread in the cellars of Champagne, Burgundy and England, in particular. It’s one reason why climate change has, for many such regions, been a blessing of sorts – the warmer conditions allowing them to more reliably bring in a crop of sufficiently ripe fruit.    Throughout the 19th century in Bordeaux, wines were often blended with those from warmer climes – the finest had a dose of Hermitage (something which Ch. Palmer pays tribute to today with its Historical XIXth Century Wine), while lesser wines had a dollop of something Spanish. Chaptalisation took over in the 20th century, and was widespread – considered part and parcel of making wine in the region.   Global warming and the technology that has revolutionised viticulture and winemaking in the region has changed that, but 2021, with its frost, mildew and generally cool conditions, saw many of northern Europe’s winemakers forced to chaptalise once more – or at least consider it.  Setting off to taste Bordeaux 2021 en primeur, I was braced for the polished spiel of the world’s grandest estates. But perhaps signalling a broader move towards transparency in the industry, what I found was a refreshing frankness. Not a single producer looked to mask the incredible challenges of the year – and the often unspoken reality of making wine in such conditions.  We asked about the potentially contentious topic at every property we visited, receiving only a small handful of slightly wary responses on the topic (“We did what we had to do,” one winemaker said, with a smile). The vast majority of producers felt it was a necessity in the year, although not everyone agreed.  At Ch. Cheval Blanc, Pierre-Olivier Clouet firmly stated, “We never touch the natural balance of the wine.” That said, they did chaptalise three plots in the end, but none of them made it into the Grand Vin. Delphine Kolasa of Margaux’s Marquis d’Alesme believes that you can almost always feel a warmness from the additional, unnatural alcohol – although she noted a few properties who had managed it so well you could barely tell.  At Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Guillaume Pouthier highlighted the balance needed with the year’s acidity levels. The relative lack of sunshine resulted in grapes high in malic acid, meaning that the malolactic fermentation (where hard, green-apple malic acid is converted into softer lactic acid) had a greater impact in the wines, reducing the overall acidity. With this in mind, he felt that chaptalisation could lead to wines feeling “flat” – but it wasn’t a necessity for him, given he managed to reach 13.5% natural alcohol thanks to the property’s warmer, suburban microclimate. These producers weren’t alone – Beychevelle, Léoville-Poyferré and Lafite-Rothschild all opted to work with what nature gave them.  But there were plenty of outstanding estates which felt it was an essential element to success in the year. At Le Pin, Jacques Thienpont remarked how they had to employ “forgotten methods”, noting that it was more than 20 years since he’d had cause to chaptalise in Pomerol. He used it on a couple of vats. Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse – the young vigneronne who has taken over her family’s estate – joked about having to learn how to do it, so alien is the process to a millennial winemaker. (“I called Burgundy,” she said, laughing mischievously.)  Similarly, Christian Moueix – another of the Right Bank’s old guard – noted how he used it almost every year in the 1970s, but hadn’t needed to for a long time. For him the key was not to overdo it, enough to add a maximum 1% alcohol. There was a clear consensus on this among proponents – adding half or one degree (of alcohol) was beneficial, but if you pushed things too far, you’d lose balance in the wines. That touch of additional alcohol added body, carried flavour and allowed for more extraction.  At Ch. Canon and Ch. Berliquet, they noted that they always pick on phenolic rather than sugar ripeness, but one of the quirks of 2021 was that the skins ripened before the sugar had accumulated to the expected level. They therefore picked and chaptalised to bring the wine up to 13.5%.  Omri Ram – who produced a particularly exquisite flight of 2021s at Ch. Lafleur – emphasised that he wasn’t anti-chaptalisation, but was anti it being popularised. He used it on a handful of parcels (the most humid plots) where he felt they would benefit from just “a little bit more” – with all the wines ending up between 13.4 and 13.6%. Ch. Margaux was notable for highlighting that, at least for them, chaptalisation wasn’t abnormal. They also used it on a couple of plots in 2017, 2019 and 2020.   There’s no doubt that chaptalisation can be done badly. But tasting through the 2021 vintage in Bordeaux, it’s also clear that it can be done well – used seamlessly to produce wines that are better for that spoonful of sugar. If you don’t trust us, check the critical acclaim for some of the wines mentioned above.  Intervention is key to wine – a vigneron’s craft goes beyond the field. The best wines come from carefully farmed vineyards, sites nurtured to produce expressive fruit, but it takes a talented winemaker to translate that into something you can drink. And in a year like 2021, no winemaker should be criticised for using every tool available to them.   Browse all Bordeaux wines or read more Editorial 

Chaptalisation – the addition of sugar to enrich wines – isn’t fashionable but it’s a practice that has long been common (and often essential). The 2021 vintage saw many Bordeaux winemakers turn to the technique; here we dig into exactly what it is – and why it shouldn’t be dismissed 

Chapitalisation became common practice in the cool Bordeaux 2021 vintage. We talk to some of the region's top growers about this controversial technique. 

Chaptalisation and Bordeaux 2021

A spoonful of sugar

Louis XIII has been adored by dignitaries, royalty and the glitterati throughout its near 150-year history. Everything about it, from the grapes to the glass, is of the highest quality. It has been present at some of the most momentous occasions in modern history – served at European royal courts, poured on the maiden voyage of the SS Normandie and Concorde, and quaffed by Agatha Christie on the Orient Express. It has been a favourite of Prime Ministers and dabbed on the wrists of fashion icon Coco Chanel. So what is it about this Cognac that has captured the hearts and minds of so many influential people throughout history? Working from the outside in, Louis XIII is housed in an instantly recognisable Baccarat crystal decanter. Each one is crafted by hand and no two are the same. It comes in a number of formats, from the miniature 5cl to the six-litre Mathusalem. Few bottles look as exquisite or capture the light like the spiked vessel that wouldn’t look out of place in a gallery. The decanter is fashioned after a carafe that was unearthed on a 16th century battleground. Rémy Martin founder Paul-Emile Rémy Martin decided to model his Cognac bottle on the one that was exhumed because he was so taken with the design. This was quite a radical move at the time as Cognac was historically sold by the barrel. The decision paid off as the decanter has since become an international standard for quality and many have attempted to mimic its design. There are numerous nods to history and Louis XIII’s royal namesake on the handblown decanter, including the 20-carat gold neck and handmade fleur-de-lis stopper. It takes a minimum two weeks’ craftmanship to produce a single decanter. This, however, is a mere fraction of the time it takes to produce the remarkable liquid within. Only the finest grapes from the Grande Champagne region are selected to one day become Louis XIII. Each decanter contains approximately 1,200 eaux de vie, distilled on lees, and aged for up to 100 years in traditional Limousin oak casks called tierçons that are over one century old. It’s no exaggeration to say Louis XIII is the work of a Cellar Master’s lifetime. Baptiste Loiseau became only the seventh person to hold the role – and the youngest in the Cognac house’s history – when he took up the mantle in 2014, at just 34 years of age. Despite all the advancements that have occurred throughout Rémy Martin’s history, it is no easier today than it was all those centuries ago for the Cellar Master to know if the decisions he or she makes will affect Louis XIII’s end taste profile. It is Loiseau’s role to ensure these aromas are the same in a century’s time – something that is becoming ever-more difficult in a changing climate with tools that are disappearing before his very eyes. The tierçons, named as such because Rémy Martin’s Cognac used to be transported in barrels of three on a horse-drawn carriage, are crucial to the history and taste profile of Louis XIII. There are tierçons in the depths of the Rémy Martin cellar that date back to 1744 – 20 years after Martin started producing Cognac under his own name. For a long time, the art of coopering these 550-litre tierçons was lost to the ages, as none was produced after 1917. This has become increasingly problematic over the past 20 years as the number of tierçons started to dwindle as one is sacrificed when another needs repairing. In 2012, then Cellar Master Pierrette Trichet made the bold decision to start this age-old tierçon coopering practice again, for fear there might not be any left for generations to come. This project to resurrect the art and safeguard the future of Louis XIII took years to master. The Rémy Martin team enlisted the help of various experts in their field to recreate a tierçon that was faithful to the ones produced in the 18th century. A tierçon must be made from a Limousin oak tree that is up to 180 years old. Once felled, the oak needs to be split and air-dried for a minimum of three years. The new tierçon is then filled with new eaux de vie to mature before it is ready to be filled with the eaux de vie that is one day destined to become Louis XIII. Even after creating countless prototypes, it’s impossible to know exactly how the resulting liquid will taste when it’s ready to bottle in almost a century’s time. From the grapes, to the maturation vessels, and decanter, everything about Louis XIII is rich in history and savoir faire. The world around might change, but there is some comfort in knowing that the "king of Cognacs" in your decanter – or better yet, rocks glass – is as fine as the liquid dabbed on the wrists of Coco Chanel and imbibed by the statesmen and dignitaries of their respective times. Browse all Cognac listings or read more Editorial 

Louis XIII is one of those spirits that almost transcends its own category – and rightly so. It has everything: the history, the provenance and exceptional quality. Holly Motion explores the fascinating history of the "king of Cognacs"

Learn the incredible story of Louis XIII, the king of Cognacs. A liquid of uncompromising quality, adored by dignitaries, royalty and the glitterati.

The history of Louis XIII, the king of Cognacs

Louis XIII: the making of an icon

Domaine Chantal Remy

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