Burgundy 2014

2014 Burgundy
Yes, 2015 will be an outstanding vintage.
however, one must not overlook 2014
The 2014 vintage started slow and wet in Burgundy but the climatic situation
improved and the long dry and warm autumn allowed for great qualities if vineyard
work was accurate and producers took the risk of waiting.
Most reports focus on the fresh and vivid acidity and the great quality of white wines
which is true, but also the reds are worth considering.
In November 2015 I went to a 2014 vintage tasting in Gevrey where 150 wines, from
Village to GC level were shown.
In combination with other tastings my conclusion for the 2014 vintage is that it's a
true "winemakers" vintage where great wines can be found but some wines did not
reflect the quality potential of the site.
So it comes down to the old rule of buying Burgundy wines: know your wines for sure,
but even more important, know your producers and how they did in any given
vintage.
As it seems very inhomogeneous vintage, why bother?
Well, quality was very good but the production in 2012 and 2013 was minuscule
driving demand and prices. Already now, 2015 is legendary and will supply a regular
amount. Asia and the US are booming and many buyers concentrated early on the
2015 vintage.
This lead to a tendency of overlooking the 2014 vintage, especially as in the early
stage, press coverage of the vintage was unfriendly.
There is excellent wines from that vintage to be discovered and they will be earlier
approachable than those from 2013 or 2015.
Now is the time to get those wines as I am sure, that very soon, Sommeliers and
aficionados will discover that overlooked vintage.
Below I add some tasting notes from Gevrey. These northerly vineyards produced
very good wines in 2014 giving an idea of what may have been produced further
south.
The tasting notes were written at the tasting in Gevrey.
It was not a blind tasting.
2016 © Stefan Metzner