“One plus one equals two. It keeps the world spinning. But artists, musicians, con men, poets, mystics and such are paid to turn that math on its head … When the world is at its best, when we are at our best, when life feels fullest, one and one equals three.”

Bruce Springsteen

Having tasted around Burgundy this autumn, the only clarity gained is that 1+1=3. 2023 is a beautiful, confusing surprise—the vintage should follow the line of hotter vintages, but frequently, this is not the case.

2023 broke the record set in 2022 for the hottest average temperature, with an increase of 0.2°C. Despite this headline, 2023 wasn’t consistently hot and sunny; the levels of rainfall were average and in line with much cooler years such as 2002 and 2010. By contrast, 2022 was like years characterised as hot and dry, such as 2020 and 2015. Perhaps the key to 2023 lies in its hours of sunshine, where it sits in 9th place overall and comfortably behind recent vintages like 2022 and 2018. We have a vintage that would appear to produce hot wines based on temperature but has produced wines with a succulent, vivid fruit character reminiscent of colder, racier years like 2017. The best wines have a brightly mellow character; they capture biting into fruit at the perfect point of maturity that retains its crunch and texture.

The winter of 2023 was generally warm and dry, with sunshine hours below the average. Mercifully, bud break was delayed, and when frost arrived at the end of March, it had little impact. April and May were sunny but relatively chilly, and flowering commenced at the end of May and finished in June under superb conditions. The stage was set for a substantial potential crop, with giant bunches capable of producing yields not seen since 1982. Quality-conscious domaines had to reduce their yields by up to 50% to reach ideal yields of 35-45 hl/ha. As ever, the devil is in the detail, and domaines relied on different methods: historical pruning that restricts yields year-on-year, pruning in the vintage, de-budding, and single or multiple green harvests to reduce bunches.

June had approximately 20% more hours of sunshine than average, but the temperature was only fractionally above the average. July and August were both cloudier and rainier than average. The first ten days of September were sweltering, helping to bring grapes to maturity and adding concentration but also bringing the potential for over-maturity. The picking window was wide in 2023. Many producers in the Côte de Beaune picked during the first week of September, and a few producers in the Côte de Nuits joined them, but the majority picked from 7th to 12th September. The high temperatures restricted many domaines to picking only in the morning.

With grapes safely in the winery, vignerons were excited about the size and potential quality of the vintage. 2023 is a vintage where sorting was crucial in both the vineyard and the winery, and the generous yields enabled domaines to select only the best fruit. Early fears about dilution were largely unrealised, and producers did what was necessary to bring in ideal crops. The 2022 vintage was comparatively a walk in the park, producing grapes of uniform ripeness and quality. 2023 is not so uniform, and the variability has created more tension and verve in the wines than was often found in the more polished and seductive 2022 vintage. The acidity in 2023 is not high but is generally a touch higher than in 2022 and certainly feels livelier in the glass. The pH level in 2023 is usually lower than in 2022, giving the perception of fresher acidity. The use of whole bunches in red wine vinification has become a hot topic in recent years, and one consequence of the abundance of grapes in 2023 is that many producers were obliged to reduce their percentages of whole bunches to accommodate the larger harvests in their fermenters.

The white wines of the Côte de Beaune are generally more consistent in style than the red wines of the Côte de Nuits, and the best wines are a triumph and destined to sit alongside the finest modern vintages. Chardonnay adapts well to higher yields and delivered beautifully balanced wines when yields were restricted to 40-55 hl/ha. These are modern wines in their levels of ripeness yet with a freshness and energy that is already so moreish. The brightly mellow character is expressed in wines that have full maturity but also vivacity and tension. The fruit characters are typically in the orchard and stone fruit spectrum but seldom stretch into tropical fruits. Alcohol levels are refreshingly moderate across the board. Regional and village wines will be ready to drink upon delivery, but the top Premier and Grand Crus deserve the opportunity to be served alongside the best vintages with time in the cellar.

The 2023 vintage in Chablis highlights the risks of modern viticulture and fortunately the region narrowly escaped spring frosts. The temperature dropped as low as -6C on multiple nights in early April, but fortunately, there was no significant damage because the budburst was later than average. 2023 continues the trend of sunnier styles of Chablis, but not at the expense of terroir, and there is plenty of freshness and oyster shell minerality. The cooler climate Left Bank Premier Crus continue to overperform in these vintages, and the savvy buyer should snap these up. The Grand Crus of Chablis remain relative bargains in the global context of fine Chardonnay.

The red wines from the Côte de Nuits are more variable in general than those from 2022, but the peaks of quality have the potential to be even higher and many wines have more pinosity than their 2022 counterparts. The fruit characters are in the red and blue spectrum, rarely straying into black fruit territory. Tannins are moderate and should be silky; it was a mistake to over-extract in 2023. Pinot is fragile, and that fragility is also its strength; the balance could quickly be shattered in 2023 with a heavy-handed approach. 2023 is another beautifully transparent vintage for expression of terroir, and it would have been a shame to shroud it. Generous yields have shaped the wines into a joyous, effortless package. It would be easy to underestimate the top Premier and Grand Crus, such is their precociousness today. Many producers speculated that consumers could drink 2023 before 2022, but they retain a deceptive capacity for ageing.

I am not much further along the path of understanding the 2023 vintage other than the adage that 1+1=3. In 2023, the vintage is a tool, and the star is the terroir. The wines should show the season’s heat, but they taste airy, vivid, and fresh. We live in an era of Burgundy where these vintages have precious few comparisons; growers haven’t experienced these conditions before. The joys of the successful 2023s are the fruit character of a cooler year with maturity of a fully ripe year. Some wines will be drunk early and certainly at regional and village levels. The best Premier and Grand Crus will enjoy a long and fruitful evolution. The white wines have a very appealing orchard and stone fruit character, reinforced by phenolic ripeness and a Goldilocks acidity that makes the wines seem fresher than one might think. These are not austere wines with citrus fruits and cold stones; they are generous in yield and temperament. The red wines are emotional wines, capturing the fragility and resilience of Pinot Noir in equal measures. The best growers shrugged off the demands of the vintage and declared it to be an uneventful season, and they also appear to have done the least in the cellar. This is not a vintage for man-made architecture and extraction; winemakers needed to tend the vines throughout the season, pick at the right time, and adopt a largely hands-off approach in the winery once sorting had been completed. The best 2023s have a remarkable fluidity and vitality that is compelling.

Join us this January to delve into the exceptional 2023 vintage at our Burgundy En Primeur tasting.