Burgundy 2024 Vintage Report
Martin Tickle, Fine Wine Buyer
Burgundy 2024 Vintage Report
Martin Tickle, Fine Wine Buyer
“Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze.”
There is a different kind of calm in Burgundy this autumn, fewer barrels, fewer words, but perhaps more reflection. The mood is one of quiet exhaustion after the travails of 2024, with 2025 bringing little chance for respite. Still, there is satisfaction amongst those who captured the best of the small but beautiful 2024 crop. Quality over quantity is the mantra. It would have been devastating to bring in a meagre harvest of mediocre fruit, but in 2024 there is genuine pleasure in the calibre and the style of the wines. 2024 joins the ranks of vintages that excite winemakers, the vintages they most love to drink themselves, 2021, 2017 and 2014 amongst them.
There is also reflection on Burgundy itself and the market that sustains it. Domaines are acutely aware that their wines must continue to be opened and enjoyed in homes and restaurants around the world, not locked away as investible curiosities. There is a clear sentiment that stability would be a virtue. Volumes are too small to expect reductions, but steady pricing would signal a welcome return to equilibrium, an affirmation that Burgundy still belongs at the table.
After the deceptive ease of 2022 and the curious contradictions of 2023, 2024 brought Burgundy back to reality. It was a year that demanded patience, stamina and, above all, resilience. Heavy rainfall in spring and early summer fuelled intense mildew pressure, keeping vignerons on their tractors for much of the season. The Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits endured wave after wave of anxiety as flowering faltered and fruit set unevenly. Thanks to constant vigilance, growers on the Premier and Grand Cru slopes spared their vines the worst, unlike the ravaged village and regional vineyards below. For many domaines, it is their smallest harvest since 2021 or even 2016; some lost as much as 70–80% of their crop in the Côte de Nuits, while losses of 30–40% were common in the Côte de Beaune. The damage was particularly severe for those following organic and biodynamic principles, with limited options for combating mildew. At Domaine Georges Roumier, there will be no Bourgogne Rouge or Musigny Grand Cru in 2024. At Domaine Hudelot-Baillet, just four crates of Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Borniques were picked, and these were folded into the Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes. In Savigny-lès-Beaune, Domaine Simon Bize’s Premier Crus Les Marconnets, Les Talmettes and Les Forneaux were harvested in such tiny quantities that they could not be vinified separately and were blended into a single Premier Cru.
Yet, as is often the way in Burgundy, hardship bred harmony. Those who maintained their composure and precision were rewarded with grapes of striking purity and balance. Sorting was merciless, but the berries that made it to the fermenters were clean, phenolically ripe and vividly flavoured. Alcohol levels are modest, acidity bright and tannins fine-grained. What might have been a vintage of exhaustion has instead yielded wines of tenderness and precision. 2024 is proudly a vintage of the vigneron, of those who toiled in the vineyard, picked at the optimal moment and made the right decisions in the cellar.
In general, it is a year of lower new oak, the wines needing little embellishment. With a smaller 2024 vintage to vinify, many domaines were able to reuse barrels purchased new in 2022 and 2023. Whole-bunch use is generally down, from entirely destemmed to around 30–40%, as growers doubted the quality of stems and preferred to retain acidity. Chaptalisation was widely used in 2024, generally increasing potential alcohol by between 0.5 and 1 per cent to reach finished levels of 12.5 to 13 per cent. The result is a vintage defined by purity and proportion rather than opulence, a welcome return to measured, classical balance.
In 2024 the hierarchy is unmistakable. Regional and village wines reflect the challenges of the year, lighter, open and ready to please, whilst the Premier and Grand Crus show focus, clarity and an almost architectural sense of form. This is a terroir-first vintage: the soil speaks before the sun, and the imprint of place overrides the season’s hardships. Amongst the reds, Chambolle-Musigny is hauntingly perfumed and proudly red-fruited, whilst Gevrey-Chambertin wears its broad shoulders more lightly than usual. The Beaune Premier Crus continue their fine run of form, and 2024 suits Volnay’s natural charm perfectly. Though classical in build, these are no throwbacks to the 1960s or 1970s: the fruit is fully ripe yet vivid, the alcohols moderate, the textures fine and pliant. The most successful growers handled their fruit gently, preserving delicacy over density. The vintage was both cursed and saved by its low yields, for 2024 would never have reached such poise and ripeness with a larger crop. Power lies in transparency and terroir, not in weight.
The white wines of the Côte de Beaune are genuinely exciting and, at their best, possess thrilling potential. Meursault, Chassagne and Puligny have all performed superbly, producing wines with racy, refreshing agrume character, a tonic after the riper stone and tropical fruits of recent vintages. Acidity is bright and perfectly balanced at the top domaines, giving the wines a mouth-watering, mineral quality that feels both invigorating and complete. For lovers of classically styled Chablis, 2024 marks a return to that taut, maritime idiom of flint, wet stone, green apple and lemon. It is not a severe vintage, but one defined by clarity and drive. Alcohol levels are refreshingly modest, and the best wines have a crystalline focus that recalls the energy and austerity of 2014 but with the earlier appeal and charm of 2017.
Compared with the fullness of 2022 or the succulence of 2023, the 2024 vintage stands apart for its precision. Across both colours, there is a tenderness that feels very much of the year. The volumes may be painfully small, but the wines are beautiful in their restraint and faithful to their place. This is a vintage for those who prize freshness, purity and definition of terroir; one that drinkers will enjoy, and collectors may wish they had bought more of in a decade. Burgundy is complicated, but in 2024 there is a clarity to the wines that shines through the difficulties of the growing season. These wines will offer early appeal, yet patience will reveal their quiet depth. In a year when every bunch was hard-won, the juice was worth the squeeze.
Martin Tickle, Jeroboams Fine Wine Buyer
Explore more
