In the second part of her coverage of the 2023 Burgundy vintage, The World of Fine Wine’s Burgundy critic Sarah Marsh MW delivers her detailed assessment of the region’s villages, crus, and lieux-dits.
2023 Burgundy: Abundant variability
2023 Burgundy: Villages on the Côte d’Or
Côte de Nuits
Côte de Nuits-Villages has produced juicy wines in 2023—not especially distinguished, but pleasant. Vineyards on the other side of Brochon, including Queue de Hareng, have been reclassified as Fixin from the 2024 vintage—still village level, but more specific to place. A good thing, too, as these vineyards bear little relation to those around Corgoloin and Comblanchien. This should also help Fixin, for there are highly regarded producers, including Denis Bachelet and Charles Magnien, producing from this climat.
Marsannay & Fixin
Marsannay was on point this year. Many producers I visit, from Gevrey to Nuits, seem to have one in their range. I had delicious and nicely concentrated reds; lively, fresh, and singing with red fruit. I especially liked Clos du Roy, clipped and bright with a crackle of tannin; good examples from Domaine du Couvent, Jean Fournier, and Bruno Clair. Longeroies is richer and fuller because of the clay, but there is whiter soil at the top of this climat which brings lucid fruit and lift to Bruno Clair’s version.
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Grasse-Têtes is a good deal less muscular than it can be; concentrated but smooth in tannin, with sweet dark fruit of good density. The most grippy Marsannay came from Es Chezots, which I tasted at Jean Fournier; this climat has a warmer exposition, but the cold air from the combe gives it punch. Soon it will be upgraded to premier cru Grand Vaux (not to be confused with Echézeaux—that’s already been taken).
Whites were equally good if not better; ripe apricot fruit, the richness undercut by savory stoniness. There’s still good value in Marsannay, but that is certain to change with a premier cru upgrade, so snaffle them while they are still a bargain.
At Domaine Bruno Clair, which has vineyards from Marsannay to Vosne, Arthur Clair differentiates the conditions in Marsannay. “There was less rain and the water never reached the roots, so we have lower yields in Marsannay—about 25hl/ha, while in other villages we had 40hl/ha, even 50hl/ha for some.” This would account for the good concentration in Marsannay. The vines didn’t stress to the point of shutting down. “Different from the 2020, when the leaves closed. The acidity and sugar were more concentrated in Marsannay and the pHs lower.” Stéphane Follin-Arbelet, who has a good overview of both Côtes, concurs. “In the Côte de Nuits, there was less rain and humidity in Marsannay and on the north side of Fixin.”
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It’s a good vintage for Fixin. In common with Marsannay, the wines I tried were ripe and well-balanced. I tasted only one rustic wine from Fixin. The producer apologized for the robust tannins, explaining: “It always comes out this way.” That apart, I’d go so far to say that I had almost silky Fixin, certainly lighter and smoother in tannin than usual. There has been a sea change in Fixin recently, perhaps fueled by greater efforts by domaines outside the village to produces better wines from it. It is increasingly important for producers to present more sophisticated entry-level wines to entice new customers. Choose your producer carefully and you will be well rewarded. To cite only one example, you cannot go wrong with Amélie Berthaut, who is still young but already has ten vintages under her belt.
Gevrey-Chambertin
Frequently I can rely on Gevrey, more than any other village on the Côte d’Or, to deliver decent quality and consistency, despite being such a large appellation. In 2023, however, this was not the case, sadly. Gevrey is a mixed bag in this vintage, and probably the village where you will find the greatest dilution and widest variation. From négociants who bought fruit here, I gather that yields seem to have soared to more than 80 hl/ha in some cases.
Not surprisingly, some village wines, and even some premiers crus, lack concentration; they may be aromatically ripe and spicy but also weedy, missing mid-palate and length. There is a strong element of ripe blackcurrant, as in sweet black pastilles, and tannins are generally light—sometimes too light: I expect a certain quality and quantity of tannin in Gevrey. I look for sleek tannins, which may be plentiful but should also be polished and smooth. The Gevrey clays give body and richness. Sometimes, there simply isn’t enough of anything, tannins included. I don’t want just fruit.
This is not a vintage in which to go off-piste and buy from a producer you don’t know. Even good producers have wines in their portfolios that are very light (too many sub-standard village wines from the expansive section below the main road). They may be pleasant, light, and fruity, but do they represent sound value at the prices now charged for them?
I also tried some underwhelming grands crus, including Chambertin itself, that lacked grand-cru depth, length, and intensity. On the flip side, I enjoyed Latricières, which benefits from the cool air of La Combe Grisard and in 2023 maintains its lively red-fruit profile, combining delicacy with intensity.
Having sounded that note of caution, there is still Gevrey with good balance and concentration. Among the terroir highlights is the top section of premier cru Fonteny, adjacent to, and with similar thin soil as, grand cru Ruchottes. Bruno Clair and Dugat-Py made finely textured 2023s, salty and pure, which pirouette on the palate. Ruchottes is straight and elegant, austere but not severe, in ’23. Sweet, ripe raspberry fruit draws you into the palate, before cutting to a crystalline finish.
Combe Lavaux is a good hunting ground in warm vintages, producing wines that are both sweet and salty. Lavaux-St-Jacques is brisk and has frosty tannin, benefiting from the cold air at the mouth of the combe. South-facing climats at the top of the slope, more sheltered from the wind, have produced sweet, straight, and streamlined wine. Look out for Domaine du Couvent’s monopole La Romanée and Charles Magnien’s Estournelles
Cazetiers is a warm terroir, well-exposed on the slope, so it can be pretty plush in a rich vintage… But in 2023, if picked early, as it was by Faiveley, it is streamlined, fresh, and mineral. Charles Magnien’s Cazetiers was among my favorite wines this vintage. But I had others on the cusp of overripe.
In 2023, Grand Cru Charmes is aromatically perfumed, while the Mazoyères section is less refined and more earthy. Proper Charmes has a light and airy feel, so the vintage becomes it well. I wondered if whole-bunch would work, but many used it to good effect, providing a light sappiness, stretching the finish and adding complexity to the scented character of the wine.
Dugat-Py has excellent examples of Charmes and Mazoyères, demonstrating the difference between these climats from vines just 650ft (200m) apart and picked on the same day: Charmes is airier. I had not visited this domaine for many years, and found the wines very changed since Loïc took over. He has worked on the Mazoyères to make it fresher and lighter than in his father’s day, when it could be rather heavy. Yves Confuron, who has made a richly aromatic Charmes using 100% whole-bunch, remarks, “Mazoyères has more clay and less fine stone, and the wine is less aristocratic.”
Between Clos de Bèze and Chambertin, I had more convincing and captivating Bèze, although at Perrot-Minot, it was pipped for the top spot by the Chambertin. This is not from Christophe’s own vines but those of an excellent producer who prefers to pick late, so Christophe sends in his own team to harvest earlier—September 1 in 2023—which has certainly paid dividends. This has all the grip and power, but also the elegance and polish, that you expect of Chambertin, even if it’s still a forward vintage for Gevrey overall. You could get started even on the grands crus from late 2027.
Morey-St-Denis
Sandwiched between the instantly recognizable premiers crus of Chambolle and Gevrey, it is difficult for Morey premiers crus to make an impression, particularly as the village is dominated by its grands crus. But there are as many as 20 premiers crus (even though I don’t believe anything is made from Côte Rôtie, 1.23ha [3 acres], on which there is a hotel of the same name).
It’s not easy to define a village profile for Morey, but home-grown Jérôme Castagnier observes: “It is between the two Combes, so the structure of the soil is very chalky, and Morey’s has a particularly mineral sensation. The wines have sapidity. I love the wines from my village. This minerality carries you along with it. They have energy.” This sapidity was apparent even in the 2023 vintage. La Riotte dances on a fine, chalky line , but as you stray toward Chambolle, Bussières has a more clay-driven style.
On the Gevrey side, I particularly like Chezeaux. It may not look like the best place on the map, being lower down on the slope and half is appellation village, but it always has a chalky, mineral bite. It was often my favorite in Virgile Lignier’s cellar, where I recall him describing a geological fault that brings the limestone close to the surface at this point. Chezeaux has concentrated fruit with an undercut of chalkiness in 2023 from Cyprien Arlaud, while Jérôme Castagnier has a particularly vibrant example.
Village wines from high-elevation lieux-dits (Rue de Vergy, En La Rue de Vergy, and Les Larrets), above the grands crus, benefited from the cooler nights in 2023. Limestone provides energy and tension, although some 2023 wines are very ripe. The profile is very different from the parcels below, which are gentler and more fragrant. But both are good.
Bruno Clair may be the only domaine making a white from En La Rue de Vergy, where they have 1ha (2.5 acres) planted half in white. Both colors show the ripeness of the vintage up-front, followed by a straight and clipped palate; austere, even severe and taut. I like this puckering, stony sparsity. “I’m so glad my father planted whites here,” remarks Arthur Clair.
Under the auspices of Jacques Devauges, Clos des Lambrays shows its true potential for intense and graceful wine in 2023, as it did in 2022, sustaining its new, even higher level of quality.
Clos-St-Denis and Clos de la Roche have lucid terroir expression and ranked among my favorite grands crus in 2023. Clos de la Roche, with its thinner topsoil, has a mineral spine, giving a touch of austerity, but in 2023 it’s an extravagant wine, full-bodied and exotic, although Domaine de la Pousse d’Or has a lighter, rather delicate, atypical version. You feel the warmth of this site, while from Clos-St-Denis’s deeper topsoil the expression is quieter and more discreet; the texture is smoother. 2023 brings out both the more explosive nature of Clos de la Roche, and the more finely hewn structure and reserve of Clos-St-Denis. Both showed proper grand cru persistence, and the consistency was good across the samples that I tried.
At Domaine Castagnier you can taste the two side-by-side. Jérôme Castagnier, a professional musician in a former life, observes: “Clos-St-Denis is like Miles Davis. You don’t need to play all the notes, just the beautiful notes. The construction is different for Clos de la Roche, in which you see everything immediately.”
In 2023, Morey deserves to capture your imagination—if it has not already done so. This is a good vintage for Morey’s limestone soils, which provide lively sapidity and salinity in this ripe, but not very concentrated, vintage. And don’t forget the whites, either.
Chambolle-Musigny
Chambolle joins Morey in performing most consistently in 2023—which was a surprise, because I tend to prefer Chambolle in cool vintages; the delicacy is easily upset. Maybe because much of July and August was in fact quite cool, the wines are rarely jammy—but why this should be the case here, I am not sure. Maybe it was the rain. With low acidity and more concentration, the wines could easily have been clumsy, but the large, juicy, thin-skinned berries have kept Chambolle on the side of perfume. Given that extraction was light, they are pretty wines, and the best have finesse. I liked this scented side of Chambolle and found consistency of quality and style here.
The village wines were attractive, even from lesser parcels; Les Nazoires and Les Mombies turned out fragrant, red fruit and airy examples. The benchmark Chambolle this year came from Christophe Roumier, who made good use of whole-bunch, but he remarks: “I was cautious with extraction; three or four pigeages in total. With the climate now, you have to be more gentle.” He tweaked acidity, but it’s well-integrated.
Not far behind is Ghislaine Barthod, at whose domaine her son Clément Boillot is now making the wine. He has modified the approach, and with less extraction and barrel-maturation, the wines are more lucid and finely textured. The domaine now produces 11 premiers crus; some, but not all, have strong personalities. My favorite in 2023 is Les Véroilles, from the top of the slope, for its delicacy and refinement. (Bruno Clair make a limpid wine from the village section.)
There is good terroir definition across the Chambolle premiers crus. Cras is fruity mid-palate but finishes salty. It can become very warm in parts of Cras, but those I tried had caught the moment and were spicy and peppery; not overblown, which was the risk.
As for Feusselottes, Paul Chéron at Domaine du Couvent, which has acquired a tiny parcel, tells me that recent studies show a geological fault within the vineyard, with more limestone and just 50cm (20 inches) of topsoil at the top of the climat, where Couvent, Confuron, and Tremblay all have vines. This differs from the deeper clay at the bottom, which I thought typical of the whole vineyard, where Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg has its parcel and from which the wine is always fruity and forward.
Staying with geological faults for a moment, there is another between the steps of Amoureuses (where De Vogüé’s parcels are located) and the main body of the Amoureuses vineyard on Premeaux limestone, which is softer and more fragmented than the hard Comblanchien (the origin of the vineyard name is uncertain, but most likely refers to the stickiness of the soil.) Were you to drive along the track between Musigny and Amoureuses, you would see the drop off where stone was quarried.
At De Vogüé, Jean Lupatelli is making a more austere style of Amoureuses from the Comblanchien soil than was made in the past by François Millet. Is this the soil or the winemaking? Time will tell. It certainly differs from the other examples of Les Amoureuses I tried this year, which are juicy and forthcoming, with plentiful ripe red fruit.
The best Bonnes Mares are sleek, with muscle and a combination of dark, bitter, black chocolate and blackberry-ripe fruit. The best-balanced examples probably come from white and clay soil, so that they have mid-palate richness and end with a savory, salty finish. But some Bonnes Mares were a touch disappointing when I tasted, not as impressive this year as the Morey grands crus, and if so, I left them out of the tasting notes.
Returning to De Vogüé, its Musigny is now divided and vinified in seven parcels. It is encouraging to see this fractional approach to Musigny (its parcel is 7.2ha [17.8acres] of the total 10.85ha [26.8 acres]), something carried out at Clos de Tart for many years and that has also helped Jacques Devauges fulfil the potential of Clos des Lambrays. The deeper soils of Les Musigny show density, focus, and power, while the expression of Les Petits Musigny, owned entirely by De Vogüé, and more directly into Comblanchien limestone, is lighter, saline, and floaty. There were no disappointments with Musigny. Among the grands crus, at Faiveley it’s such a big step up, showing great intensity and focus, but the best I tried comes from Christophe Roumier, who has a tiny parcel that made a “bumper” crop of two barrels in 2022 and 2023, but nothing at all in 2024.
Clos de Vougeot and Echézeaux/Grands-Echézeaux
Clos de Vougeot came in a range of styles, from the full and square, to the tight and contained. There are even relatively light and airy expressions, often from less well-located parcels where producers are working hard to create a more refined profile, while those in the best places just follow their terroir.
Maxime Cheurlin and Jérôme Castagnier, with vines in Petit Maupertui, at the top near the wall, have produced refined and silky Vougeot in 2023. Classic, powerful, stick-to-your-ribs style from Michel Gros. There are more four-square versions from Comte Liger-Belair and Torcholot. Anne Gros clearly sees her Vougeot as a big wine; and punchy it is, but contained and energized. Also focusing on power and vigor is Méo-Camuzet. These last two producers combine the best of Vougeot muscle with a more sophisticated feel.
Producers never seem excited by Echézeaux from En Orveaux, which is considered an inferior spot, but I like the wines, especially in warm vintages. They have a light, delicate line and herbal perfume. Combe Orveaux is a cool place, and fruit here only ever just achieves ripeness. Hence the wines are straight, light, and delicately perfumed. In 2023, they exhibit a herbal note on the finish, even when fully destemmed. Good examples come from Bouchard Père & Fils and Faiveley, while Christophe Roumier now has Champs Traversins (considered the best parcel, together with Les Poulaillères) to blend with En Orveaux, and he seems much happier with 2023 as a result.
Generally, I prefer the lighter, streamlined Echézeaux—including Maxime Cheurlin’s attractive, fluid wine from Vignes Blanches—to Grands Echézeaux in 2023, although not from Loachausses, a poorly drained lieu-dit where various branches of the Gros family have parcels. Grands-Echézeaux has more clay, but I feel producers target a Grands Echézeaux style with more extraction, and 2023 maybe wasn’t the year for that. Combine this with a collective approach to make more elegant Vougeot, and Grands-Echézeaux can be burlier than Vougeot this year. The only Grands-Echézeaux I really liked comes from Anne Gros. Cheurlin and Liger-Belair have both, and I prefer their lighter, more elegant Echézeaux. Were I to select one wine in the Vougeot/Echézeaux bunch of 2023s, it would be Méo-Camuzet’s stylish Echézeaux. Coming from Les Rouges du Bas, this wine is sleek, cool, and urbane. Just the ticket for me.
Vosne-Romanée
Rather languid wines here: some fluffy and others too exotic and cooked, but lovely examples among the crowd. Like Gevrey, a mixed bag of quality and style. As Louis-Michel Liger-Belair observed, “You will see seven different styles among the 40 producers in Vosne-Romanée, as the last began harvesting on September 20.”
Village wines are ripe, fruity, and lush, but not desperately interesting; some pleasing examples, but equally as many were vapid. I tend to prefer village wines from the top, Barreaux and Champs Perdrix, in warmer vintages (actually in most vintages). Domaine du Couvent’s version has the typical red fruit of the climat, while there is wilder forest fruit from Anne Gros. Méo-Camuzet’s village wine (80% from Les Barreaux, picked toward the end of their harvest on September 13) has black fruit, 14% ABV, and lower acidity—and it’s not that it isn’t attractive, I just miss the fresher style.
Suchots, covering 13ha (32 acres), the largest Vosne premier cru, is on the softer side, not heavy, but lacking energy; a bit louche. Whole-bunch is helpful to provide direction and lift. The second-largest premier cru, Beaumont, is sweet and intense, but also soft, which is probably why I prefer the dessus part, which has the salinity to offset the ripeness. Maxime Cheurlin argues that “there is more density and complexity in the bas section,” where he has his parcel, but I like the finer boned expression of Beaumont from Domaine des Lambrays.
Malconsorts is rich and sumptuous, with greater depth and backbone; smooth-textured and powerful. In total contrast are the wines from Petits Monts, all of which are light-footed and twirling, with the texture of fluid silk or taffeta. They are pretty, albeit not terribly intense or persistent. They play to the more aromatic style of the vintage, and I like them for it.
Richebourg is a proper step up, showing its grand cru credentials. It was best, however, picked at the beginning of the harvest; picked later, and it can still be very good, but it misses a bit of the freshness. It ripens quickly here. Comte Liger-Belair’s La Romanée was among the best wines of the vintage: stunning.
Nuits-St-Georges
The mixed tenor continues with Nuits-St-Georges. After several vintages of reporting positively, I found more disappointing wines from Nuits than anywhere else. Many lacked substance. There are exotic aromas and baked cherry-pie richness. There are also stalky, herbal notes. Sometimes, all of the above… indicating a large quantity of grapes, both under- and overripe. The fruit just didn’t seem quite up to snuff.
On the north side of Nuit-St-Georges, the village wines are soft and fruity. Premier Cru Aux Chaignots has a loose and easy expression; Les Boudots is richer and succulent, with black fruit, but lacks acidity. Better examples come from Les Damodes.
On the south side, I had more “green” village wines. Premier Cru Les Pruliers is generous, with fair intensity, and the texture is rather loose, while Les Vaucrains shows black-chocolate bitterness and more precision, which is welcome. Moving to Premeaux-Prissey, the picture is a little fuzzy. The wines are gentle but rather dilute and woolly.
But there were exceptions to the general malaise; Nuits with intensity and balance. Three wines stood out on the north side. Richemone from Perrot-Minot and Lambrays, and Liger-Belair’s upright, elegant, and snappy Cras. If only all the wines in Nuits had this energy.
A safe approach in Nuits was to extract very gently. Gregory Gouges did this with aplomb. With a feather-light touch, Gouges has produced perfumed and light Nuits. I didn’t like Gouges wines in 2021—I felt they were too light in this cold vintage—but I enjoyed the restraint they brought to 2022s, and in 2023 the tannins are delicate. A very different style from Christian’s wines, now that Greg and Antonin Gouges are in charge. Their whites showed well, too.
On my final day in the Côte de Nuits, I was confronted with two opposing expressions of Nuits—not only highlighting the diversity of style in Nuits, but also affording heartening evidence of quality wine here: rich, dark-fruit Nuits from Jean Chauvenet, harvested relatively late, not acidified, yet showing no lack of freshness; and at Domaine de l’Arlot in Premeaux-Prissey, lighter-bodied, red-berry, delicate wines made by Géraldine Godot. The domaines had similar yields and, surprisingly, neither did much of a green-harvest, yet both put up a good and consistent flight of wines, revealing the two faces of the vintage.
Côte de Beaune
From Aloxe-Corton to Beaune
In northern section of the Côte de Beaune, I preferred the white wines—from the grands crus, to the engaging village wines of Pernand-Vergelesses. I was less enamored with the reds from this stretch of villages.
The quality of Corton and Corton-Charlemagne was consistent around the hill. In hot vintages, I like En Charlemagne. This cool face, with its westerly to northerly exposure, performed well in 2023, as it has in other recent warm vintages. The wines benefit from slightly more freshness, which emphasizes their cool cut of minerality. Yet just below the treeline, the Bouchard Père & Fils parcel of Corton on the thin topsoil of the Languettes climat has produced a streamlined, saline wine, as has Ben Leroux with fruit from the same sector. In 2023, I often prefer Corton-Charlemagne to the broad beam of Bâtard-Montrachet and the sweetness of Bienvenues, both of which can feel soft and weighty, while Corton can be relied upon to be savory and straight, even from warmer sites. Corton whites profited from the mixed season—cool but with a hot finale. In the lower-yielding 2019 vintage, they were almost too concentrated, while in 2023, the texture is not so rich as to smother the terroir (although Les Grands Lolières, below Rognet, can miss the spot in white as it does in red).
The picture is not as rosy for red Corton, which is often either over- or underripe, lacking intensity and complexity. Some of these wines have rustic tannin, but they are better than the often robust, overblown, and Porty 2018s. A few less illustrious climats, including Les Combes, located at the foot of the slope, which traditionally struggle to ripen, benefited from their cooler location.
Nor did I find much excitement in the premier cru reds of Pernand-Vergelesses. Fichots and Les Basses Vergelesses are chunky, earthy, and rather astringent. I like Pernand reds with grip, clip, and austerity, but I found the tannin a bit coarse in 2023.
The Pernand-Vergelesses whites, however, are another kettle of fish. In the run of recent warm vintages, they exhibit a sunnier, fruitier character, and while I rather miss their savory side, they are delicious and probably have wider appeal: ripe citrus from Premier Cru Sous Frétille, which is on point, whatever the exposure; lovely stuff. On the other side of the valley, I prefer white to red Premier Cru Caradeux—and happily, most of it is planted to Chardonnay. The whites from here are sturdy. Rapet has a nice example, from a cross-section of vines ranging from the bottom to the top of the climat (and his other whites were good, too). The new plantings above this, all the way up to the treeline, are appellation village, but the upslope whites from both sides of the valley performed well.
Moving to Savigny-lès-Beaune, there are some pretty reds. The best wines are light-bodied, with red fruit and light, crisp tannin, while others have baked fruit and barely ripe tannin. Once again, the whites are generally the better bet, and Chandon de Briailles has some good examples.
Across Beaune, the reds have soft tannins, with many premiers crus loosely textured, soft and juicy; easy-going but lacking energy and intensity. They can feel sweet and jammy, especially from the Savigny side. Even wines from my favorite premier cru, Les Grèves, which can usually be relied upon to deliver the best of the Beaune appellation, were very variable in quality. But Bouchard Père & Fils nailed it with Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, and Génot-Boulanger has produced a delicate, light, and precise Grèves from the top of this climat.
Indeed, the most enjoyable Beaune wines I tasted were fairly unassuming, pretty reds from the likes of premiers crus Aigrots, Sizies, and Les Avaux, which have inviting, red summer fruit and crispness. Thomas Battault, a young producer in Auxey, has an attractive example of Les Avaux.
Some producers staunchly refuse to acidify, but from Beaune and the warmer sites in Savigny, the reds could certainly benefit from a little help in 2023. Thibaut Marion has successfully tweaked the acidity of his Beaune reds, for which he used some whole-bunch and carefully extracted, so the tannins are light. (He also has a very good white Beaune Clos des Mouches.)
Although much of the appellation would be considered warm, there are a few cooler spots, including premier cru Montrevenots and the village parcel Lulunne, where it was difficult in the past, but now there are no problems with ripening in a hot vintage. Génot-Boulanger has both, which join the cluster of pretty 2023 Beaune reds demonstrating that it’s perfectly possible to find light and enjoyable examples, even if they are hardly profound wines. I have written more here about the style that I like, but beware of the soft, heady, baked, and syrupy versions.
Pommard
In 2022, I was somewhat critical of Pommard, finding many of the wines overly strong and unnecessarily extracted; oftentimes with a heavy-handed use of whole-bunch. By contrast, the ’23 tannins are gentler and lighter, while the concentration varies from light to rich.
Yves Confuron believes he made better wine from Pommard than from the Côte de Nuits, where most Confuron-Cotetidot vines are located: “I feel that the greatness is in Pommard this year. There is black fruit, more sugar and more concentration in Pommard than in Vosne.” The fruit profile depends upon the ripeness of the bunches, which evolved rapidly from red summer fruit, to black cherry. Yves Confuron always picks late, but black fruit sits as well as red in Pommard. I find the vintage more successful in Pommard than in Volnay, making the former my favorite Côte de Beaune village in 2023.
By comparison with Volnay and Beaune, Pommard is a cooler terroir, likely to perform well in warmer seasons. The heatwave successfully ripened the skins, but there were shriveled, burned, and botrytized bunches here, too, making the quality and style of the wines inconsistent. It seems that there may have been slightly less rain in Pommard than elsewhere—and there was certainly less than in the Côte de Nuits. No producers said the skins were thin, while some said they were thick. Given the imperfect condition of the fruit, producers tended to destem or use fewer whole bunches.
As usual, however, there were exceptions. Domaine Heitz-Lochardet’s Pommard Premier Clos des Poutures, from a site sheltered from the wind, where the fruit ripens fast, benefited from whole-bunch for aromatic lift, but the fermentation was particularly short and light, as Armand Heitz has no temperature control. Yves Confuron used 100% whole-bunch and pigeage, and the concentrated black-cherry, dense but smooth Pommard at Domaine de Courcel, where he makes the wines, illustrates the richest and most tannic profile of Pommard 2023. “Hot vintage, ripe tannins!” he exclaimed. “You have the sucrosity of tannin in a hot vintage.” Even so, his style of wine production is extreme. At the other end of the stylistic spectrum, Romaric Chavy at Domaine Chavy-Chouet has produced a fine and light-bodied Pommard from premier cru Chanlins, skillfully capturing the delicacy of this steep limestone climat neighboring Volnay, which should make the crispest and lightest wine of the village.
At Domaine de Montille, Brian Sieve told me he was more likely to do another punch down in 2023 than in 2022 but, given the restriction of tank space, he had fewer whole bunches. He was another exception, however, as most winemakers pulled back on extraction, using less in 2023 than in 2022, which is one reason why the tannins are lighter.
Less is more for the village-level wines of Pommard. Most I tasted are on the lighter side, fruit-driven and easily accessible. They are a little softer from lieux-dits on the plain; more concentrated from Vignots and especially from Noizons; and slimmer, with red fruit, from Vaumuriens, a climat that can struggle to ripen in a cool vintage, but not so in 2023. Friendly village wines.
Considering the premiers crus on the north side of the village on brown clay, Pézerolles is supple and nicely balanced, but the various Epenots didn’t dazzle. They should show the most debonair expression of Pommard, but most fell short in terms of intensity and/or texture. I preferred the 2022 Epenots, which have more intensity and sheen.
In the middle of the village, at the mouth of the combe, Charles Ballot has neighboring parcels of premiers crus La Refène and Les Charmots, which illustrate that taste and analysis don’t necessarily correlate. La Rèfene, from deep, dark clay, is soft and smooth, while Charmots, from white clay, has sapidity; the latter tastes fresher and more energetic, but Charmots actually has the lowest acidity and the highest pH in the Ballot-Millot range.
While Epenots is a little rustic, Rugiens has refinement and tension and exhibits proper intensity: a serious premier cru, where the iron in the soil provides the structure. Even so, Rugiens is remarkably approachable in 2023.
Volnay
The heatwave is all too apparent in Volnay. The best examples are charming, with summery red fruit—a softer and riper version of 2017—but many strayed into baked cherry, have slightly rustic tannin, and can feel sweet to finish. These less successful wines more closely resemble 2018, which is not an elegant vintage for Volnay. The alcohol levels are quite high—around, and even above, the 14% mark.
At the end of the harvest, on September 14, Eric Germain at Vincent Girardin found Ez Blanches had reached 15.5% ABV. This village parcel at the top of the slope, shaded by the wood, usually ripens late. It was blended with other village parcels to make a wine at 14.3% ABV, but illustrates how ripe Volnay wines can be this vintage.
While there is no questioning the exotic aromatics and alcohol in Volnay, intensity and phenolic ripeness are another matter. Some lack substance and have herbal tannin. Volnay is often in the path of hail, as it was in 2023. With that risk ever-present, producers seem reluctant to do a green harvest, and I question the severity of the debudding. The higher yields are evident in the wine.
The best examples of premiers crus are softer and more approachable than classic Volnay, but maintain a refined profile and don’t morph into jamminess. Everything I tasted from Clos des Chênes held its line; the most consistent premier cru for quality and style. Its characteristic austerity is softened, but chalkiness and cool grip still underlie the ripe summer fruit. Taillepieds shows sapidity and tension, but with no severity. From the other side of the village, there are attractive, quite lively and crunchy wines from premiers crus Fremiets and Pitures. Fremiets can be strict in a cold vintage, but it benefits from its inherent edginess in 2023.
Premier Cru Caillerets is inconsistent. Domaine Michel Lafarge has captured the elegance and refinement, but few others managed this, for it was difficult to retain a sense of freshness; while most are aromatic, they can be strawberry-sweet, Porty, or rather vapid. Things do not improve with Champans; at best, soft and rich, but tending toward robust and sluggish, while Carelles and Roncerets feel loose, chunky, and ponderous. This section of premiers crus below the road is quite rustic in 2023. Most Santenots, though, hold themselves together: full-bodied, rich, and exotic.
In 2023, Volnay is rather too ripe and soft for my palate, but their fruity richness will have wide appeal. This is not a Volnay vintage to stash away in your cellar, but pleasant enough for easy and early drinking.
Meursault
In common with 2022, the 2023 vintage accentuates the richer classic style of Meursault, although acidity seems lower in 2023, and the wines are less concentrated and more open-textured.
From the bottom of the village on deeper soils—from Les Pellans on the Puligny side, through to Les Vignes Blanches and En Gargouillot on the Volnay side—the style of 2023 is full and ripe, becoming rather heavy under Santenots. These are not currently very exciting (nor is Le Cromin), but from producers who keep them for a second winter before bottling, they should slim down, and fining will help. Village wines are more satisfying as blends that include components from thinner, more limestone soils, which inject some energy, as from Domaine Patrick Javillier. But it’s not all heavy soil at the bottom of the village. Les Criots is on the flat but, as the name suggests, the soil is limestone and the wines benefit from more tension, as is evident in the Ballot-Millot version. Les Grands Charrons is quite glossy; but Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau has a strip running from the bottom to the top, where the soil is thinner, providing energy and freshness.
Above this, Les Casse-Têtes has salinity, so look out for these wines. The higher altitude “deuxièmes crus” may not have the pizzazz and vibrant minerality of a cooler vintage, but many are still very good. I didn’t find the characteristic white floral notes in Tillets, but Clous is racy, and Narvaux, with its thin layer of red clay and rock over limestone, flexed its muscular minerality well enough. Jean-Marc Roulot has an intense white-flower Vireuils and a stony Luchets, which are truly expressive of their respective terroirs. His Vireuils is now subdivided; the fruit from the thinner, rockier section goes into the eponymous cuvée, while the remainder joins the village cuvée ronde. In a warm vintage it is an advantage to be slightly more north-facing as the slope moves goes round the hill into Auxey-Duresses, where there are some good 2023s from neighboring Les Hautes and Macabrée.
From the top of the slope in the hamlet of Blagny, there are spicy whites and reds. La Pièce sous le Bois climat is open and exposed, so catches the sun, and 14% ABV is rather too much for the fragile structure here; these wines should be slim and elegant, but from 2023 can taste sweet and heady. Reds are more likely to falter, while whites are more likely to retain a direct line. There is a tip-top example from Ben Leroux.
Bouchères is fruit-driven in 2023, and I didn’t think it was possible to achieve the airy, lacy profile that is the finer expression of this hot and sheltered terroir until I tasted Génot-Boulanger’s on my last day. “In 2023 we picked the first day. We learned from 2009, when we picked at 15.2% [ABV]. It’s like an oven here, and ripening is so quick,” explained Guillaume Lavollée.
Gouttes d’Or and Poruzots are full-bodied and chunky, with ripe greengage and tropical fruits. Poruzots, the more firmly underpinned of the two, is generally more successful. Among the top premiers crus, Perrières is relatively firm and polished on the finish, but not as steely as you might like; it combines spiciness and tropical richness with sweet minerality. Genevrières reveals the blousier, more exotic version of itself. The best examples are swathed in scent and focus into a fine finish. Like Perrières, Genevrières will benefit from aging for another few months in tank to become more precise and lose the hot breath of the vintage.
Charmes coped better than the other two top sites, and for those who like a rich, concentrated, and glossy Charmes, this vintage delivers. Charmes also happily takes a lick of new oak, especially those from the Dessous part, such as Jean-Marc Roulot’s, where a touch of woody sappiness can freshen the finish. There are somewhat slinkier Charmes from the Dessus section.
Charles Ballot finds the 2023 vintage most like 2009, which is a fair call. “For Genevrières and Charmes, you feel the sun and the concentration. Both are massive, but with freshness. I think the evolution will be similar.” He keeps an eye on this vintage. “I still have a lot of 2009, as it’s my son’s birth vintage.”
It’s all a bit bling in Meursault this year.
From Monthelie to St-Aubin
Monthelie, benefiting from its cooler terroir, is fertile foraging ground for reds and whites this vintage. Domaine Changarnier, a domaine within the village, has a good range, although some of the best examples of Monthelie come from producers outside the village.
The converse is true in Auxey-Duresses, where there has been a marked uplift in quality from Auxey domaines over the past decade. Maxime Lafouge and Thomas Battault are among the younger cohort showing off the best of Auxey-Dresses in both red and white.
“The ripeness came so quickly, gaining two degrees [of alcohol] in three days,” remarked Maxime, “and we only needed 16g of sugar for one degree of alcohol. We thought it would be 13%, but it reached 13.4–13.5%. All the malic was burned away, but it is unnecessary to have a low pH here in Auxey-Duresses, as we still have freshness from our terroir.”
There is certainly no lack of ripeness for the whites in 2023, but the village wines can feel a bit soft and lack intensity, so it’s safer to buy premier cru. There are exceptions, though. Michel Prunier has a good vieilles vignes village wine. At Lafouge you will find three neighboring village lieux-dits with distinctive terroir identity. Boutonnières the lowest on the slope has a straighter salty palate, while Macabrée above is more rounded, open, and floral, and Les Hautes is a mini-Meursault in the Vireuils style, with more intensity and smooth, shiny minerals. Lafouge also has an interesting young-vine Chardonnay from white soil above Les Duresses, which is super-citrus and shows the potential for white in this cool and limestone section.
The whites are better than the reds, for which it may not have been easy to await full phenolic ripeness, due to health issues and escalating sugars, but those producers I visited had done a decent job, employing good selection and very light extraction. There are pleasing, soft, approachable reds with ripe summer fruits and just enough acidity; attractive summer drinking, slightly chilled to heighten the sense of freshness. Climat du Val can be a bit overripe but move round the hill for Les Duresses, which is finer.
Maxime Lafouge finds the reds have gained with barrel maturation to become more like 2022—“less gourmand and slightly straighter, with a little more tannin”—while Estelle Prunier finds them to be more like 2018 for both red and white.
In St-Romain, the style is mixed, with some quite lean wines and others quite rich. The modest substance of St-Romain does not marry so well with too much ripeness. It used to be difficult to ripen the whites, but in warm summers it’s now tricky to catch the light and bright spirit they ideally reveal: I like them with citrus-sherbet fizzle. At an altitude of around 390m (1,300ft), Sous Le Château is a great location with a sunny exposure; in 2023, the wines have litchee fruit but remain vibrant, and fining will sharpen them.
St-Aubin performs well in warmer seasons, although on the Puligny side on the sunny slope, where the best vineyards are located, it is necessary to pick in good time. The producers are increasingly accustomed to this, though, and I didn’t taste many excessively exotic wines. La Chatenière can be a little square. En Remilly is sweetly ripe, but the best wines I tasted came from Les Murgers des Dents de Chien—Chavy-Chouet has a good example—particularly those from the plateau, which are the liveliest and most saline.
Puligny-Montrachet
The village wines here are rounded on the mid-palate but finish with salinity. There was little, however, to distinguish between the lieux-dits from the flat land around the village, where all but Trézin are located. One top location—Les Enseignères—is top-heavy, requiring time to lose weight.
On the north side of the village, Referts is also rather heavy, lacking some acidity, while Combettes is tropical. Perrières seems livelier; full and sturdy, but with earthy freshness. Champ Canet has exotic aromatics but is not too opulent or richly textured on the palate. It displays the airy character and saline finish I expect to see from this lighter soil, although this is a warm place.
La Truffière is warmly aromatic, with an exotic, “purple” perfume, but it carries the vintage well and somehow manages to feel light-footed, even though this, too, is a warm and sheltered climat. Jean-Marc Boillot’s daughter, Lydie Alzingre, who together with her husband François Alzingre has run the domaine since 2016, describes how La Truffière has changed. “Now, with the warmer vintages, it is much more forward and aromatic, and you can drink it younger than in the past.” Their 2023 expression is 13.5% ABV but captures the delicacy of this climat and feels lower in alcohol than it is.
Champ-Gain is windier on the St-Aubin side, which may have sped dehydration, accounting for the spicier, more tropical feel, than those from the Meursault side, where there is deeper clay, and the wine is more firmly structured and balanced. Folatières is a large climat with variable terroirs and wines, but from 2023 they are generally forward, ripe, and juicy, without being too tropical.
Pucelles leans into the vintage, carrying the warmth in a rich satin ribbon—lovely—while Caillerets has produced the finest premier cru wines across the village: a hot and cold expression; warm apricot and cold stone; sweet and savory. They should have sapid finishes—and they do. There is quintessential Caillerets from Jean Chartron.
Puligny is more attractive than Meursault in 2023, while Chassagne brings up the rear, struggling somewhat in the upslope climats. But there is decent, to very good, terroir definition for the premier cru white wines across all three of the main villages.
Grands crus
Before moving onto Chassagne premier cru, a few observations on the white grands crus, given that they straddle Puligny and Chassagne. Bâtard is full-bodied and richly sumptuous, but can lack some intensity and freshness; powerful but ponderous, probably not a vintage to keep a long time. As for Bienvenues, there are lean versions, while others are so sweet that they taste of honey, and I found more enjoyment from Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet.
Chevalier and Montrachet pull away from their grand cru siblings, as they should. Chevalier is undoubtedly ripe, but can feel excitingly steely and is certainly the more reserved of the two; while Montrachet displays depth, glossy richness, power, and persistence. It is surprisingly forward and in place. Some wonderful wines at the top end, but not a vintage for fireworks.
Chassagne-Montrachet
The safe choice among the Chassagne premiers crus in 2023 is Morgeot—and let’s face it, that affords plenty of scope. With 58ha (144 acres) and 21 lieux-dits, there is such diversity of terroir and expressions here, although many producers still blend parcels to produce a “Morgeot” style. Where lieux-dits are bottled separately, they are distinctive in their many different guises in 2023.
The classic, broad, and grippy Morgeot comes from deeper red clay—not only in the eponymous lieu-dit but also in others, including Boirettes, where Jean-Marc Blain-Gagnard has his vines. Generally, those who produce more than one Morgeot, label their biggest, punchiest cuvée as Morgeot, while their lighter, more elegant style might be Boudriotte, for much of this climat has lighter, whiter soil. Confusingly, Boudriotte is not only a lieu-dit, but a catch-all triangle encompassing the deep red soils of Les Chaumes, Guerchère, and Champs Jendreau, among others. So, Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard produces a dense, rich style of Boudriotte from Chaumes, which Caroline Lestimé separates from Les Petits Clos (on great form in 2023), the part of Morgeot just below La Romanée.
In 2023, Les Petits Clos pounces energetically on the palate. This is a great lieu-dit, producing a stylish, straighter, more savory style even in 2023—so different from the clay-based Morgeots, which are fuller, glossier, and richer. Charles Ballot has Tête du Clos, another excellent lieu-dit, which he has helpfully declared on the label since 2015.
Les Petits Clos, Tête du Clos, and Les Grands Clos have gained a following for their chalky mineral density, but at Domaine Lamy-Pillot, Sébastien Caillat blends Petits Clos with Guerchère, where the soil is heavy, to create his beefier style of Morgeot, while the Boudriotte label is his more refined version—a blend of Chaumes and Champs Jendreau where the soil is whiter going up slope. Such is Burgundy.
Les Fairendes has also produced more elegant Morgeot, as has Francemont from Bruno Colin and Armand Heitz, but neither declares it on the label—which I wish more producers would do. They argue that from a marketing standpoint, the Morgeot name is widely recognized and easy to sell—yet it seems to me a missed opportunity. There’s much more to communicate about Morgeot, and Burgundy aficionados will surely pay attention to a more specific identification of the terroir.
In any event, 2023 Morgeot whites are super-enjoyable; and while this may not be the best vintage to keep long-term, Morgeot can be aged with confidence for 10 to 15 years.
In the middle of the village, La Maltroie is also well-balanced and consistent in 2023, while Les Caillerets is unpredictable; some wines are properly firm, compact, and fresh enough, while others are flagging, showing insufficient acidity and intensity for this climat, which should be the apogee of Chassagne premiers crus. In August, Les Murées became hot enough within the walls to cause the vines to shut down, which has resulted in a lighter, fresher style with a lower pH; and for a wine reaching only 11.9% ABV, Fontaine-Gagnard felt that it had to chaptalize.
From climats at the top of the slope, where the topsoil is thinner, the wine can become exotic and heady, with some hitting 14% ABV, which overpowers the slight and light structure. The effect is worse where there is a touch of residual sugar. This applies to some wines from Les Baudines, Les Embazées, and La Grande Montagne—an umbrella term for lieux-dits including En Virondot, Les Grandes Ruchottes, and La Romanée, although the latter, maybe because it was shaded by the trees, seems fresher.
On the north side of the village, Les Chaumées—which should be pretty and dancing—seems flat-footed, so you’ll do better with Les Chenevottes and Les Vergers. I liked En Remilly from Bruno Colin, which is straight and slightly austere, even from 2023. You don’t see much of this premier cru, as there are only five producers, and Bruno has one third of the total 1.5ha (3.7 acres). His brother Philippe also has a little.
As for the reds, I expected red Morgeot, with less acidity and tannin than usual, to be easier going than usual—but they are grunty; not aggressive, but rustic and missing the smoother touch of recent warm vintages. Clos St-Jean, however, is charming: all red-fruit, silky tannins and fluidity. Generally, though, it will be better to scout around in Santenay, which has turned out some attractive reds in 2023, especially from the north side of the village: supple Tavannes; rather more sophisticated Gravières; engaging, fruity Beauregard; and more muscular Beaurepaire. The whites are good, too. Domaine Jessiaume produced engaging Santenay in both colors.
Côte Chalonnaise
I dropped into Mercurey for an afternoon in June 2024 to walk round the vineyards and taste at Château de Chamirey. Following this, in October, I asked for samples of Mercurey premier cru to be collated in Beaune, which I tasted blind. Chamirey’s wines were not among them, as I had already tasted them, but Philippe Le Hardi had submitted samples, unbeknown to me, as I had already tasted those, too, at the property in June, when I scored them highly. In the blind tasting, the Philippe Le Hardi wines were among my higher scorers, despite coming from lesser-known premiers crus. Faiveley and Domaine Adélie (Albert Bichot) also showed well. All three producers displayed good tannin management. But this was not an easy tasting. There were blatant notes of rot on some wines, and of VA on others. Pinot Noir needed rigorous sorting in Mercurey in 2023. But if the job was done well, the red wines can be perfectly pleasant, as is also demonstrated by Château de Chamirey, where the winemaker described the “big problem in reds, with odium and botrytis,” but clearly made the necessary strict selection. Domaine Génot-Boulanger, which was first established in Mercurey, also has a couple of attractive examples from recently replanted vineyards.
I also did a small tasting of red premier cru Givry wines, which are quite pretty or rather dilute in 2023, with mixed ripeness and less personality than Mercurey. Rully whites are very attractive, wherever I tasted. They are nicely ripened, with rich citrus, to white peach, fruit and rather generous in style.
