Burgundy 2021 Supplement

4 BURGUNDY 2021 ENPRIMEUR OSA: On Strict Allocation May as the vines tried to catch up. Fresh and rainy conditions continued through the early summer, ideal for mildew and oidium if not carefully addressed. Charles Magnien in Gevrey treated his vines no less than 11 times, eight at night – a 15 hour process: now

Widespread decisions to utilize less pigéage , or pumping over, to minimize extraction were also made with the focus being on wines of delicacy and purity. This was beautifully exhibited at Chandon de Briailles, whose use of basket presses, coupled with bio-dynamic winemaking, has resulted

that’s dedication and can be seen in his wines. As they say in France “Aout fait le moût” : August makes the (wine) must. Never truer than this year, as the grapes gently ripened to full maturity. The harvest started in the last week in September – harking back to the traditional 100 days between flowering and harvest - a full month later than in 2020 which was closer to a 90-day growth cycle. As you can imagine, painful and stressful for the vignerons. Finally, though, they had some healthy, ripe grapes with which to make some traditional Burgundian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay...albeit in tiny volumes. Vintage Character Themostmindful growerswereextremelycareful toavoidextracting toomuch fromthegrapes. This is a vintage of perfumed Pinot at its apogee, and it was important to respect that. Many growers chose touse fewerwholebunches this year, relying on the grape skin over stalks for their tannins. The freshness delivered by the stems in hot years - when ripe - was already present in spades. While tasting with Nicolas Potel (who knows a thing or two about winemaking, andmade some excellent wines at Roche de Bellene), the phrases ‘crunchy’, ‘linear’ and ‘ parfumée ’ appeared time and again in our notes. As did the phrases “ terroir definition ” and “this is so Chambolle” or “ so Vosne” start to become repetitive….in a good way! Nicolas Drouhin at Drouhin-Laroze, among others, was concerned that the stalks and stems, les rafflés , were not sufficiently ripe, so chose to exclude them. Use of new oak was also diminished, such as at Tollot-Beaut. Nathalie’s wines are absolutely delightful and engaging.

in some hauntingly beautiful wines this vintage – Chapeau! Interestingly, and we tasted around 300 wines between us, there were very, very few we were unimpressed with – the hallmarks being elegant, perfumed fruit, fine and gentle tannins, supporting yet background acidity with unobtrusive alcohol for the reds and a balance of verve and concentration for thewhites. Brilliantly, what they all showed was … terroir, terroir, terroir!! Finally, theMarket! So, market conditions are interesting! There’s up to 80% reductions on the whites, and significant reductions for the reds. There are large costs associated with the 2021 vintage, including €100,000s spent on the ‘smudge pots’, material costs for bottles, transport and treatments of oidium and mildew. All these, coupled with those awful yields, spell only one thing. On the other hand, Les Bourguignons’ 2022 vintage appears to be of good volume and quality, so there should be some breathing space. Demand continues to outstrip supply and, as Les Bordelais have been doing for years, not all the crop is released En Primeur as their pockets become deeper, so perhaps they’ll be able to hold back a bit less than usual. At the point of going to press, we’ve had very few prices and have added estimates based on our analysis. They are of course up, but by varying amounts andwehope, just hope, our estimates are ‘worst case’. Either way, we love this 2021 vintage and the Burgundian phoenix has risen from the fire or rather, ironically, the frost. We are proud to offer you each and every one of the wines over the following pages…bon appétit!! Alex

PLEASE BEAWARE THATMANYWINESAREOFFEREDONSTRICTALLOCATION

ALL WINE SOLD IN BOND AT OCTAVIAN FARTHINGHOEFINEWINE.COM