2015 White Burgundy: the vintage you shouldn’t skip

Underrated from barrel, consistently delicious from bottle, 2015 is the vintage of White Burgundy to stock up on right now.

In the lead up to the release of Burgundy’s 2015s, all the chatter was around the fêted reds

The whites, meanwhile, were an also-ran: they had had their moment of glory with the scintillating 2014s, and the 2015s were best left for the restaurant lists.

Simply put, lucky restaurants. For this is the most underrated, surprising, delicious vintage I’ve come across: one that warrants considerable reevaluation.

Since 2018 I’ve been a member of a small tasting group, known as “Burgfest”, who meet twice a year in Burgundy to taste through the vintage picked three years previous.

The group of 11 tasters is made up of UK Burgundy buyers and journalists, including Neal Martin, William Kelley, and Jasper Morris MW, who all publish their notes and scores on their respective websites (you may have noted “tasted blind at Burgfest” on Neal’s notes). The group’s average scores, and a comprehensive summary of the tastings, are subsequently published by Neil Beckett in the magazine The World of Fine Wine.

The 2015 white tasting was my first appointment as a Burgfest member. Over four days in May 2018, we tasted 243 wines from Premier and Grand Cru sites.

It was a moment at that point unparalleled in my career, assessing a vintage with such depth and detail. I quickly came to realise that, in that room, during those four days, I was tasting blind the greatest wines of the region with its greatest experts. And together we were forming what would hopefully be held to be a balanced opinion of that vintage.

So how did the 2015 white Burgundies measure up?

In short, they far exceeded expectations

When we shared our general thoughts, it was clear that we were unanimously impressed. The wines had indeed been ripe, but they had a superb freshness that made them charming, and seriously enjoyable to taste.

We subsequently compared 2015 with other “solar” years such as 2009 and 2003. Thanks to a combination of the vintage’s natural balance and the advances in viticultural and winemaking practices, we felt the growers of Burgundy had managed 2015’s generosity with widespread success. The volume of fruit supported the oak very well on the whole, and the reductive style of winemaking so à la mode these days meant the wines maintained a level of tight, mineral tension.

The juicy style of the vintage means the 2015s are hugely attractive in their youth. But their considerable concentration also means they are likely to age well, and many should enjoy long drinking windows.

Having now done four Burgfest tastings (sadly this year’s is on hold), I can honestly say that the 2015 whites have been the most pleasant surprise so far: a tasting that hugely exceeded my expectations.

Upon joining Lay & Wheeler this January, I was perusing the list, and a number of 2015s caught my eye. I must admit, I’ve taken my pick for my own cellar. But I’ve also picked my top 15 whites from 2015 for you. And, what’s more, we’ve put them back at their original release price for one week only.

So if you did miss out the first time round, try some out now. They are in bottle, in the UK, and crying out to be enjoyed.

Catherine Petrie MW