{"id":33893,"date":"2021-12-30T15:45:50","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T15:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/?p=33893"},"modified":"2021-12-30T18:37:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T18:37:01","slug":"2020-burgundy-en-primeur-travel-diary-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/12\/2020-burgundy-en-primeur-travel-diary-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Burgundy | Part 3 – C\u00f4te de Nuits & C\u00f4te de Beaune"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know what I can\u2019t stand. When you try and look up something very simple like \u2018how to change a light bulb\u2019 and a website insists on running you through the history of the lightbulb, every other lightbulb on the market and what might replace the lightbulb in the future before just telling you what you need to know \u2013 all in order to up their content-based hits.<\/p>\n

So here it is, in short: 2020 was an outstanding vintage in Burgundy. It was warm, but not as warm as 2018, although on average sunshine hours were up by 20%. For the reds of the C\u00f4te de Nuits, 2018 had expanse, 2019 had charm, 2020 has structure and concentration. These wines are for the cellar and will live a very long time (and indeed take a while to unfurl), but when they do, they will be wonderful. The all-important, if never totally relevant vintage comparison is 2016 but with darker fruit.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like a blow-by-blow account of our tour in the week when we were mostly in the C\u00f4te de Nuits, then please read on. Hopefully my repeated mention of lightbulbs won\u2019t have pulled in too many people who were looking for an Ikea.<\/p>\n

\"Cote<\/p>\n

Day 1 – Monday, 8th of November<\/h2>\n

Bright skies over Beaune and a crisp winter chill were more than enough to blow away the cobwebs of Sunday night\u2019s dinner. A rather delicious glass of Montagny proceeded by a rather less than delicious bottle of 2013 Morey 1er Cru were what we chose to help relax after an early Eurostar, train and hire-car journey. The latter, which I\u2019ll keep nameless, an unfortunate but nevertheless fun foray into a producer we were not especially aware of. In this camp, they will remain.
\nI\u2019m never really sure if you should start low and finish high \u2013 sometimes by the end of a long run of village wines, then premier crus, your palate can feel awfully fatigued before it\u2019s supplied with the A star material, so there may be some wisdom in the reverse order. Whether this is true or not, it seemed to be the way our trip would proceed (although as you\u2019ll find, if you read to the end, it started exceptionally high, ended in the same fashion, and really didn\u2019t dip much in the middle!) as we arrived outside the winery of Lo\u00efc Dugat-Py.<\/p>\n

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Domaine Dugat-Py<\/h3>\n

For those that don\u2019t know Domaine Dugat-Py, I would urge you with every fibre of my being to try and experience the wine at least once. From the Village to the Grand Cru, they all have an utterly distinct fingerprint \u2013 gorgeously lush, silky fruit which seems to caress your entire palate before being whipped away by a stream of tensile acidity. They\u2019re floral and aromatic, dense and serious, structured and appealing, fresh but rich. A perfect storm of sublime contradictions. We were yet to have the full, or even really any measure of the vintage by this point (I\u2019ll save you some time here if you don\u2019t want to read on \u2013 2019 oozed charm, but was more delicately structured, 2020 is serious. The wines are phenomenal and largely monolithic, perhaps not such a joy to taste from barrel, but will be very highly regarded with time in the cellar. Think 2016 with a slightly darker fruit profile).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure, looking back, that Dugat-Py gave us much of the story. Not because his wine didn\u2019t express the vintage, or terroir\u2026 Quite the opposite \u2013 they are just so phenomenally well-judged and balanced that they never put a foot out of place. Comments like \u2018oh, so it\u2019s a high acid vintage\u2019 or \u2018ah yes, the fruit is rather ripe\u2019 are almost impossible to make when a wine maker has such total mastery over his art.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that the 2019 Chambertin (please don’t ask for this – it’s not released en primeur) was one of only four wines to be given 98-100 points by RobertParker.com, alongside Roman\u00e9e Conti.
\nLo\u00efc, ever relaxed, charming and friendly, was kind enough to give us his insight into what he viewed as a \u2018vintage a-typical\u2019 which you can find in the video below.<\/p>\n