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Burgundy 2022 offers ‘opportunity’ to change consumer attitudes

24 January 2024 By Arabella Mileham

Burgundy buyers need to be braver and let their white wines age for longer and enjoy the reds younger, according to Goedhuis’s buying director David Roberts MW, who said the “fantastic” 2022 vintage gave consumers the opportunity for a rethink.

“We all, as consumers, need to change our attitude. These wines are outstanding, we don’t’ need to be waiting 15-20 years to drink them,” he said. “You only need to go to a restaurant in Burgundy now and most of the wines are 2020 or 2019 – and I’m very happy drinking them! The ’22 vintage offers that opportunity to change our mindset to be able to drink red Burgundy, and also white Burgundy young as well as ageing it long-term”

The counter argument for the white wine, he noted, is that people have “lost sight of White Burgundy’s ability to age, given the excitement generated by white wines coming out of the region.

“I think that these wines we should have more confidence to actually be a bit of a risk and lay down some of our white lines for longer,” he said.

“I think many of these red can be drunk young as well as aged, but I think we should all be braver and let our white Burgundies age a bit longer. We can’t bury our heads in the sand, but it’s not what it was and the joys of great old white burgundy is a sensational experience. These wines can age easily for 20-30 year, if you’re brave!”

Speaking to db at the release of last year’s en primeur campaign, Roberts worried that Burgundy was in danger of becoming a luxury product that only a few people could drink and while he argued that while you still need “quite deep pockets” to enjoy a stunning Premier Cru, the advantage of the ‘22 vintages was the “amazing, gorgeous” wines at Bourgogne Rouge and village level, particularly in some of the less recognised appellation.

“They are amazing, gorgeous wines which the next generation of wine drinkers can enjoy,” he said. “I think they are affordable for people who just want to drink nice wine, it is going to be starting at £20 a bottle upwards – there is a limited amount of produce – but there are some stunning wines between £20 and £35. They might be a bit of a treat for many people but they can really enjoy them. That’s the lovely thing about the ‘22 vintage, is that those wines are accessible for many people at that price.”

It was, he said “exciting” to see a new generation of winemakers coming through.

Exciting new generation

Speaking on a recent podcast, Guy Seddon of Corney & Barrow also spoke about the new generation, noting examples such as Adèle and Elsa Matrot who have taken over from their father Thierry at Domaine Matrot; Edouard Labet, who has been working alongside his father François for a number of years at Chateau de la Tour and Domaine Pierre Labet; Pierre and Louis Trapet who have been in charge of the vines in Alsace since 2017 as well as help with the day-to-day operations in Gevrey Chambertin with their parents, Jean-Louis and Andrée (and indeed are releasing an exciting new range of wines); and Jean-Victoire Morey, who has started working at his mother Anne Moret at Domaines Pierre Morey in Mersault.

“Its an ever evolving picture,” he said. “You have this kind of vibrant new generation who have in many cases travelled to other great Pinot or Chardonnay enclaves throughout the world – a lot of them have done maybe a vintage in New Zealand, Oregon or in Napa, and they come back with a sense of renewed willingness to share and to communicate,” he said. “It is much more interactive than it ever was before. Suddenly, there’s more movement and more global awareness of Burgundy than there ever has been in the past. And I think this is a good thing. So it’s very, very exciting times.

The downside, he noted was that it is “almost impossible” to start out as a young grower in Burgundy if you’re not lucky enough to have inherited a family estate – which very few people do. This was pushing new winegrowers to work as negociants and source very small quantities of wine from “less glamorous appellation”.

As a result, there were “genuinely exciting things happening” in the hills and the Haut Côte, Marsannay, Santenay, and into the Côte Chalonaise.

“We’re discovering far, much, far more about the terroirs of these ‘satellite’ appellations than we ever knew had existed in the past,” he said. “It is very exciting to see that there is nonetheless this generation of young winemakers coming through.”

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