In preparation for our offer of 2009 Burgundy in January a small yet perfectly-formed squad from our Fine Wine team visited the region last week, headed by one of our greatest assets: Jasper Morris MW.  The week proved to be a very busy and rewarding one.  These trips are a treat, and a treat that I love each year, though 450 wines in four and a half days is rather taxing.  Thankfully the nature of the vintage is such that (a) the wines were rather easy to taste and (b) the quality of the vintage is so high that we tasted next to no duds.

 After the bunfight that was the 2009 Bordeaux campaign there has been much speculation on the quality of 2009 in Burgundy, with a few suggestions that it might equal 2005 as some say it has in Bordeaux (but count me out of that consensus).  This isn’t the case: the reds in 2009 are clearly the best wines made since 2005, though they’re just a little bit behind the magnificent 2005s (a vintage apart, as Sylvie Esmonin put it).

We tasted, as always, some extraordinary premiers and grands crus, though this is almost invariably the case year on year.  What most impressed me in the 2009s reds, though, was the quality of the village wines and even the generic Bourgogne Rouges – this is the level that I will be buying at this year (if there is enough stock…).  Nicolas Potel‘s Volnay Vielles Vignes is already earmarked, as is some Vosne from both Etienne Grivot and Domaine Lamarche.  Also very much worthy of note is the brilliant trio from Dujac Fils & Pere: Morey, Chambolle & Gevrey, all plump, fresh and silky, and all brilliant representations of their respective appellations.