Burgundy 2005 - A vintage without comparison
Every now and again a vintage creates tremendous excitement for its across-the-board success in Europe. 1990 was such a year as was 2000, which was a dream come true for producers with its combination of outstanding quality and the millennium vintage. Now it is the turn of 2005 to register as a not-to-be-missed year for followers of star-quality vintages.
It is premature to pass definitive judgement, but rolling the classic regions of Europe into one vast wine producing area, 2005 has the potential to eclipse both 1990 and 2000 as the year when well-nigh perfect weather conditions were converted into unsurpassable wines. Every region in France produced at least excellent wines - certainly Bordeaux, the Rhône and Loire Valleys and the Burgundy satellite areas of Beaujolais, Mâconnais and Chablis, have each been hailed as great successes in 2005, their wines selling like hot cakes on release. Now it is the turn of the Côte d'Or to put its wines on the market amid a ballyhoo of the like we have seldom, if ever, witnessed previously. Traditionally releasing its wines fully six months later than Bordeaux, its arch rival in the 'greatest French region' contest, the leading estates of the Côtes de Beaune and Nuits are, as I write, advising merchants of allocations and prices. High profile domaines will have no difficulty in finding customers for their wines, indeed during the Lay & Wheeler team's extensive visits in November (seven Company personnel were in the region at various times throughout the month) domaines advised that they are being inundated for requests for allocations. Fortunately Lay & Wheeler is a consistent buyer and therefore allocations are secure although production at many estates is below the level achieved in the 2004 vintage.
That 2005 was a magnificent year for red Burgundy is without question. Only time will prove precisely how brilliantly the wines will develop but quite clearly 2005 will go into the record books as one of the outstanding years of a generation. Many winemakers are referring to 2005 as a 'vintage without comparison' and even the more senior amongst them are finding it difficult to recall a year when the wines have been quite as exciting as this early stage of evolution. Throughout the Côtes, the wines display the most wonderfully evocative and luscious fruit. Looking beneath the surface, ripe tannins and structure are present to ensure longevity however it is the seamless texture of the finest cuvées that lingers in my mind as the overriding feature of the vintage.
As for the white wines of the region, they display ripe, flowing flavours and, at their best, delicious vibrancy. However 2005 is a white burgundy vintage that required attentive vinification. Whereas the red wines virtually 'made themselves', the task for Chardonnay producers was to maintain sufficient levels of acidity in the wines. Our tastings revealed that the leading estates appear have risen to the challenge admirably.
It is always excitng to introduce new produces to the Lay & Wheeler portfolio and we have several estates that are appearing in our offer for the first time this year. My colleague Andrew Caslin and I were completely in awe of the wines in Michel Gros' cellars in Vosne-Romanée. The tasting with Michel commenced with a terrificHautes-Côtes-de-Nuits (which is extraordianarily good value) and proceeded upwards from there! Cyprien Arlaud is a young winemaker who is going places. I have no experience of the domaine's wines before the 2000 vintage, but tasting the full range of 2005s and vintages back to 2001, it is clear that Domaine Arlaud is an estate in the Côte de Nuits’ Premier League. Finally, I will remember for a very long time our tasting with Pascal Lachaux at Domaine Robert Arnoux. I have commented that Vosne- Romanée achieved phenomenal success in 2005 and Arnoux's wines from Vosne (and nearby villages) are nothing less than mind-boggling.
John Thorogood
Head of Buying