Burgundy market 2018

2018-01-10

Burgundy has produced an unprecedented string of excellent vintages during the last couple of decades.

2016 was the third in a trio of such vintages, which complement each other beautifully.

The intense 2016s tend to have an extremely focused core of fruit, and are threaded with acidity that infuses the vintage with notes of blood orange, redcurrants, cassis and spice.

2015 produced deep and richly expressive reds which are now beginning to close down, suggesting a long and glorious future. They are reminiscent of the 1999s with (in some cases) a touch more concentration.

The 2014 reds are very under-rated given how balanced, expressive and subtle they are, with sufficient stuffing to last the course. This is a vintage to satisfy the most ardent Burgundy lover through a very wide drinking window.

The 2014 whites are something else: a mythical vintage that every white Burgundy lover should own. While they didn’t show enormous typicity early on, that was precisely because they were so concentrated and bright. They are now evolving beautifully, with most endowed for the long-term.

2013 produced some excellent top-end reds, and very fine whites for those who like freshness and definition. Although a challenging vintage weather-wise, quality abounds at the top of the tree, among vignerons who respected quality and fought the filthy weather with heavy-handed use of secateurs. Roumier and Rousseau adore their 2013s.

Burgundy’s run of strong vintages began well before 2013, however. 2012, 2010, 2005, 2002 and 2001 all delivered great quality, and there are also some great wines (of both colours) to be had from 2008, 2007. Many 2006 wines are showing better and better as time passes, and the 2011s, which showed a certain hardness in youth, are softening into wines of substance. Once-maligned 2004 is even starting to develop now; the wines are gradually dropping those hard coal-tar flavours that were attributed to pyrazines from a ladybird plague, but which may well be simply a characteristic of a firm, robust vintage in the first 14 years of life: a late developer and an ugly duckling.

Success among the 2003s is very much dependent on producer; look for those who picked early, used refrigerated vans to protect their grapes from searing heat during transit, and employed light-touch winemaking. Great wines were made in 2003, and served blind can fool the drinker into imagining 2005, albeit with a little less structure.

Wine Owners - Burgundy market - Romanee Conti vineyard

The Burgundy market

Although Burgundy has had a great run of quality, the same is not true of quantity. Most vintages since 2009 have come up short, and 2016 was the worst of the lot, with some villages experiencing reductions of 70%.

Upward price pressure is the natural result of these smaller quantities, yet in context producers have showed admirable constraint; increases over the last 5 years are up by a ‘mere’ 94%. Contrast that with the 10-year picture, which shows price increases among the blue chips of 428%!

Further down the pecking order, back-vintages of Premier Crus have not caught up, except for the best-known blue chip producers.

The outlook for Grand Crus remains solid, in our view, in spite of the elevated prices. Nevertheless, traditional Burgundy buyers are trading down appellations in search of value, which will surely elevate Premier Cru prices over the next 24 months. There are plenty of excellent maturing or fully mature wines on the market, whose prices prove extremely attractive prices when compared with new releases – even more so if you factor in 10 years of storage fees and inflation. If you are interested in investigating, contact us to discuss the options, or check out the Burgundy offers on the fine wine exchange.

Steen Öhman – the new Burgundy critic on the block – wrote a piece on Burgundy wine investment for Wine Owners last year. Everything he said then holds true today. It’s a must-read for the discerning Burgundy buyer, and I urge you to do so.

In days gone by, it took the best part of a decade for a hot new Burgundy producer to become recognised. But times have changed, with buyers more actively hunting out wines with a good quality/price ratio. These days, new discoveries rapidly increase in price over the first 4 to 5 years. Identifying these rising stars early is a great way of buying into Burgundy in a way which guarantees future returns should you choose not to drink everything you have purchased. You might end up with vintages that are ‘works in progress’ compared with more recent vintages, but you can always trade up.

Looking ahead, the 2017 wines will provide generously in both quantity and quality. Stylistically, the vintage will be more akin to 2014 than to the intense, concentrated wines of 2015 and 2016. Thankfully, the prospect of a good-sized campaign for the 2017s has kept 2016 prices in check; and just as well, given current price levels. How successful 2017 will be across the board remains to be seen.

FINE WINE PREDICTIONS 2018 - get your free report