VINTAGE REPORT: BURGUNDY 2024

With a well-known wine critic asking growers to nominate a song that reminded them of the 2024 vintage, my own thoughts turned to music as I travelled between visits. The newly released Beatles Anthology 4 was on repeat in the car, and when I’d managed to disable the car’s inbuilt electronic assistant - which buzzed into life whenever I broke into song - it occurred to me that the joy of an album like this, with unheard versions of favourite tracks, mirrors precisely what draws us back to Burgundy year after year. A different harmony or bass line awakens a new emotion in just the same way tasting a beloved vineyard, grown under new skies and conditions, can stir you anew. Familiar, yet unique; a fresh perspective, a different tempo - this is the very stuff that keeps Burgundy endlessly compelling. By the end of my tastings, it also struck me that 2024 itself is probably an Anthology-type vintage: not a compilation of greatest hits per se, but of fascinating versions and alternative takes.

The reds will undoubtedly charm, cheer and compel us in the near and mid-term, but one should not expect vin de garde status. These are wines to revel in, full of pure, immediate enjoyment, rather than bottles destined to lead us to the sublime in decades to come. “Vins de plaisir” we chimed on countless occasions. Of course, Burgundy’s ability to age in lighter vintages should never be discarded, but honesty requires acknowledging that 2024 is unlikely to evolve into one of the true greats (for reds). Classically leaning, yes, a true classic, perhaps not. But expect pleasure, and pleasure is what you will find. The challenge will be getting hold of any; yields were painfully small in 2024.

The whites, conversely, include several examples of genuine brilliance, and show a higher general level of quality than the reds. The shape of them is all their own, with an innate freshness and plenty of definition to the cool flavours. They also offer sleek polished textures and often a pleasing sense of flesh covering the freshness. Often tear-drop shaped, with compelling dry extract, minerality and stoniness, they are measured, classically proportioned and poised. Qualitatively, I would put them on a par with 2014 and 2020…

So how did they come to be? In short, through a lot of hard work.

This was a vintage in which the heavens opened. The region recorded 50% more rainfall than usual between June and August and nearly double the norm across the twelve months from the previous October. But it wasn’t cold. Mean temperatures for 2024 vintage sit squarely in the middle of the past two decades. Rain-soaked skies and warm temperatures mean one thing: disease pressure. Every grower described 2024 as a battle from start to finish. Mildew arrived extraordinarily early, in May, before flowering, which is almost unheard of. Flowering itself occurred in unseasonably cold, wet weather, which immediately set a smaller than average crop, with early losses due to poor flowering estimated at 10-30% of the crop.

From May onwards the challenge intensified. Organic producers, with treatments that wash off in the rain, found it particularly hard to protect the vineyards from the spread of mildew. “What is perfect in Burgundy is six days of dry and one day of rain. In 2024 we had the inverse,” remarked Grégory Gouges. Merely entering the vineyards proved a problem for many. Those without adequate cover crops risked turning the vineyards into mud pits with the repeated tractor passes.

The question over whether to remain organic hung over many domaines. Systemic, non-organic, treatments are not washed off by rain, meaning fewer tractor runs, less soil compaction, less diesel, and less copper residue on the vineyards. We spoke with growers we greatly respect on both sides of the debate; and as is so often the case, there are compelling arguments either way. What is true is that those who switched to systemic treatments early, clearly saved a good deal of their crop...while all those that stuck to their guns, seemed content to have stayed the course. Time will tell if decisions taken in 2024 had any impact on the subsequent 2025 vintage.

On multiple occasions I heard growers lament a workload two, three or four times the norm, for a half, or a third, or a quarter of a crop. This effort continued through harvest, when teams of pickers were sent out to scour vineyards for healthy bunches, often covering double the hectarage that they would normally be expected to, simply because there was so little fruit to harvest. Interestingly, almost all the growers we spoke to harvested on or around 16th September, a natural break in the weather which signalled a sensible time to start the pick. Most were done in less time than usual, despite a frustrating amount of stop and start due to the persistent rain showers.

Sorting compounded the extra effort, with strict selection needed both in the vines, and at the sorting tables. A few growers joked that in the plentiful 2023 vintage imperfect bunches could be tossed aside whole. In 2024, the opposite was true. Tables de tri were turned into surgical theatres, with fine secateurs employed to remove individual grapes from bunches. With such tiny yields this couture level of detail was both possible and necessary.

Yields ranged from vanishingly small to merely very small. In general, the further north you travelled, the worse the losses were. Arthur Clair reported losses of 80% in some of their Marsannay plots yet ‘only’ 50% in Savigny les Beaune. Many others told similar stories. The Whites fared marginally better, often landing at around half a crop. (See individual producer profiles for specific details.)

And yet, ironically, the diminutive size of the crop is what saved the wines qualitatively. As I mentioned earlier, it was not a cold vintage, and for the most part canopies remained healthy. The thing about mildew is that it affects the fruit, but not generally the leaves. So, while berries shrivelled on the vine, the foliage remained intact – crucial for ripening. Small, loose clusters of tiny berries were probably the only kind that could ripen under such sunless yet temperate conditions. And unlike the recent spate of solar years, 2024s lack of heat spikes leaves terroir markers unobscured. ‘Unadorned’ and ‘faithful’ appear throughout my notes.

In general, the delicacy and elegance of the reds led winemakers to use less new oak than usual. For some, this was a happy coincidence at having had plentiful old barrels from the 2023 vintage, for others this was a more deliberate choice. Either way, lower levels of oak certainly suit the vintage’s charm and prettiness.

The decision over whether to use stems or not was more varied. Some growers stuck to their normal approach; some increased proportions; some eliminated stems entirely. There was clearly no right or wrong as excellent wines exist on both sides of the divide. What was universal was the need for careful extraction – nothing gave itself up effortlessly in 2024, but extracting just the right amount required an attentive approach.

Tiny volumes created further challenges, especially in the Côte de Nuits, where several domaines blended parcels to create cuvees of more manageable size. Most growers harvested at between 11.5% and 12.5%, meaning a little bit of chaptalisation was normally employed to prolong fermentations. Malolactic fermentations finished relatively quickly, and with pHs on the higher side, winemakers had to be vigilant in the cellar to protect the wines. Regular topping up was crucial.

Elevage varies widely. Among Pinot producers some will bottle early to preserve the pure fruit of the vintage; others will bottle at their usual time but with shorter wood exposure; and several intend to give their wines the habitual second winter, to round the wines out. Chardonnay producers, by contrast, seem largely on their usual schedule.

Tasting over three separate weeks in October and November 2025, the red wines were a lovely surprise. In my October tastings, when the weather was warm and the cellar temperatures had not yet dropped, the open, expressive, fragrant nature of the vintage shone. As the weather cooled, so the wines retreated into themselves; though they never lost their clear-eyed feel. These may be Pinots of only moderate weight and density, but they have great Pinosité, with translucent personalities and plenty of grace. They offer generally red fruit profiles, minerality, and lots of perfume; myriad mentions of fresh and wilted flowers dot my notes. Acids are ripe, pHs are on the higher side and alcoholic degrees refreshingly modest. Tannins are fine, silky and discreet, suggesting impatience will not be penalised. As is always the case, many will flock to the Côte de Nuits for their reds. Finding much unavailable due to the miniscule volumes produced, we would urge customers to consider the vineyards of the Côte de Beaune this year – they had an easier time of the weather and offer some of the most successful wines of the vintage. For anyone looking to fill gaps, this will be a good year to explore…

The whites, drawn largely from a tighter geographical cluster, and further south than the Côte de Nuits reds, are a very consistent set of wines. They suffered less at flowering and were a bit more resilient to mildew. They don’t have the bracing acid profiles of a cold year, but they do not lack for freshness. The tiny yields have given the fruit exceptional clarity – not blown out by sunshine, rendered in great detail - and the calm delivery combines with striking transparency to site and soil. Often elongated, with mid-palates that fan out before tapering into long sustaining finishes, they feel both effortless and fresh. They do not taste like wines born in a vintage of immense hard work.

What unites both colours – and what will delight Burgundy enthusiasts - is the wines’ fidelity to site. These are precise, accurate wines, clearly differentiated in mineral signatures, textures, weights and tones. They will give great pleasure, brimming with charm and clarity of origin. There’s sadly just not a lot to go around. And what they may lack in scale, whether in the glass or in volume, they make up for in exactness. As one grower remarked, they may not have the loudest voices, but they certainly sing clearly. You’ll just have to lean in a little when you pull the cork.