Prices drop for Burgundy 2013

Burgundy’s 2013 vintage is set to bring widespread price cuts, even though “many wines turned out to be better than the weather conditions suggested,” according to Jasper Morris MW.

Photo credit BIVB/GADENNE D

Declaring himself “relatively optimistic” about the vintage’s reception as Berry Bros & Rudd prepared to launch its annual Burgundy en primeur campaign this week, Morris confirmed a drop from 2012’s prices for “99% of wines” in the merchant’s portfolio.

“The understanding of the market place is totally different between Burgundy and the Bordeaux mentality,” he told the drinks business. “Prices went up not because they thought they could make more money, but because there have been extremely short quantities since ‘08 and ‘09.”

However, added Morris, “The great majority of producers weren’t comfortable with where prices had got to in 2012 so they’ve come down again. The exchange rate has helped too.”

Painting a picture of mixed quality from a vintage affected by various combinations of poor flowering, hail and rot, Morris observed: “It was important to pick on the right date, but then the sort of growers we work with tend to manage that well anyway.”

Recalling the arrival of a large storm in early October, he summed up the key to balancing optimal ripeness with avoiding rot by saying: “In general the reds picked a little later were marvellous and the whites picked a little earlier were very good.”

Given the challenges and rigorous sorting required in 2013, Morris observed: “It’s clearly a year in which the further up the scale you go the better it is. Bourgogne level and some of the village wines are less consistent.”

Despite this uneven performance, he added: “It’s a year in which the villages really showed their character.” Here Morris echoed Domaine Drouhin’s Veronique Drouhin by highlighting Chambolle-Musigny as one village which “seems to have come through really well.”

Indeed, in general Morris described 2013 as “easier in the Côte de Nuits”, adding: “One appellation I don’t usually lean towards but loved every wine I tasted this year was Clos de Vougeot.”

Turning to the Côte de Beaune, Morris noted the “hideous” effect on both quality and quantity of the severe hailstorms that hit this southern end of the Côte d’Or in July 2013.

Picking out Meursault, Pommard and Volnay as particularly affected, Morris remarked: “Some places were affected by hail and you can feel it in the wines, but then others had hail and you don’t taste it.”

As a result, he acknowledged some omissions in this year’s Burgundy offer, confirming: “We’ve fine-tuned and cut out a few things in the Côte de Beaune where we felt that hail had made an impression.”

To balance areas where quality dipped or allocations remain tight after a run of consecutive small harvests, Morris unveiled a handful of new additions to the Berry Bros portfolio. These include the “really exciting” Jérôme Castagnier in Morey-St-Denis and Domaine Anne-Françoise Gros in Vosne-Romanée.

“We can’t just keep adding without making the whole thing unbalanced but it’s always been important to look at the new, small growers coming along and to give them a chance to shine,” outlined Morris. “There are people like David Moreau in Santenay who we started working with in their 20s; now they’re in their 30s and we’re reaping the benefits.”

As for the level of customer interest in 2013 Burgundy, Morris concluded: “It’s too early to say but the joy of Burgundy is that you do get people coming every year, whether it’s seen as an investment or not.”