Now that the dust has settled, what do I think of the 2022 burgundy vintage launched to huge acclaim last month? Having spent over a week tasting the best part of a thousand wines, it’s not, alas, the truly great vintage that the specialist burgundy merchants would have us all believe. Good wines have been made everywhere but there are very, very few blow-your-socks-off stars. Instead, there is a good crop of savoury, red berry-laden red burgundies and some elegant, ripe, saline-edged whites, both of which strike me as making especially appealing early drinking wines as opposed to “vin de garde”, wines capable of ageing.
It’s a relief, of course, for growers and merchants alike to have a decent quantity to sell after last year’s disastrously small yield. Yet in my tasting book, neither colour hits the great burgundy vintage heights of the thrilling, intense 2005 reds, or the magical, concentrated 2014 whites. How could they when 2022 was the driest, warmest and sunniest year on record and the Côte d’Or’s vines have always thrived in cooler conditions? Thankfully, 2022 avoided the heat spikes and drought of the sunburnt 2003 and cooler nights helped, but extreme weather in the shape of several summer storms with rain and hail took their toll, as did a freak episode when the village of Gevrey-Chambertin in the northern Côte de Nuits had a month’s worth of rain in two hours, flooding streets and cellars.
Still, due to climate change, this could well be the new normal in Burgundy and it’s impressive to see how vignerons and winemakers alike have successfully adapted to conditions that were unheard of two decades ago. Better vineyard canopy management, increasing conversion to organic and biodynamic viticulture, and picking promptly is all part of the new sunny normal, when a day’s delay could bring about alarming leaps in alcohol and drops in vital refreshing acidity. In the cellar, better sorting equipment and delicate infusion, not extraction, is the way to go and less use of hefty new oak.
• Eight great red wines you’d never heard of before
Judge for yourself with some seductive, silky reds that I felt had the edge over the fatter whites. Scoop up Louis Jadot’s easy-sipping beaujolais, especially the red cherry and berry-ripe 2022 Beaujolais-Quincié, down £4 to £10.99 at Waitrose. Or try Bertrand Ambroise’s elegant, damson plum-packed 2022 Côte de Nuits Villages (montrachetwine.com, £31). If it’s 2022 whites you want, there are lots of ready-now Maconnais including the vegan-friendly, rich, smoky, floral 2022 Les Enracinés Mâcon Chardonnay (edenfinewines.com, £15.28). For me, chablis is often too soft and ripe to shine but a few buck the trend including Samuel Billaud’s stylish, zingy 2022 Chablis, with its steely, marine mineral edge (montrachetwine.com, £31).
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Burgundy stars
2022 The Society’s Exhibition Chablis Premier Cru Montmains, France
13 per cent, thewinesociety.com, £22
Brilliant value for money, superior chablis, brimming with surprisingly opulent, saline and nutty fruit.
2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Fourneaux, Domaine J-J Girard, France
13 per cent, montrachetwine.com, £30
Jean-Jacques Girard’s wonderfully complex, savoury, truffle-scented superior premier cru gets my vote.
2022 Beaujolais-Lantignié, Pierre Bleue, Frédéric Berne
13 per cent, dvinecellars.com, £24
En route to cru beaujolais status, this lovely Lantignié overflows with gentle, leafy, floral, gamay charm.
2022 Mâcon Villages, Louis Jadot, France
12.5 per cent, Morrisons, £12
Spot-on, straw gold, fruity white burgundy from a tip-top merchant house, with masses of yellow plum oomph.
Supermarket star buys
2021 Château Capendu, La Comelle Corbières, France
14 per cent, Waitrose, £7.99 down from £8.99
Cockle-warming, chunky, baked plum-packed, carignan and grenache-led red from Jean-Claude Mas.
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2022 The Misfits Cinsault, South Africa
13 per cent, Tesco, £10
Delicious, mature, lively, leafy, gamey cinsault finished in French oak barrels from Cape pioneer Ken Forrester.
2023 Norton Torrontés, Argentina
13 per cent, Waitrose, £6.99 down from £8.99
Bargain basement, exotic, yellow peach and golden apple spiced, vegan-approved white, perfect with stir fries.
2022 Taste the Difference Chilean Viognier
13 per cent, Sainsbury’s, £9.50
Another exotic, spicy food-friendly winter white, with lashings of bold, buttery, sweet nectarine fruit.
