As wickets tumbled against New Zealand, at least the nine
strong 2015 White Burgfest group proved their staying power.
Over two and
a half days the team tasted through the 2012 vintage of Chablis and the Cote
d’Or’s top Premier and Grand Cru vineyards from growers and negociants
alike. In total 191 wines were tasted, all blind, by village and
vineyard, across 28 flights. 75 of the region’s most famous, and
infamous, producers were represented. The tasting was a great privilege,
presenting several rare opportunities such as the chance to compare Meursault
Perrieres from eight of the village’s top growers side by side, or examine a
six-strong flight of Chablis Les Clos, or even, on the last morning, indulge in
the merits of five different Chevalier Montrachets. But enough gloating,
how are the 2012s looking? Well my own personal thoughts are as follows:
2012 White Burgundy in bottle tastes every bit as
concentrated as it did from barrel, hardly surprising given that this was one
of the smallest ever crops (I recall Sauzet making 2 barrels of Folatieres
instead of 10, the smallest since Gerard Boudot started in 1974!) In some
instances this made the wines difficult to taste, so much power and density
left you wondering how long it was going to take for them to be at their
best. There were enough shining examples, though, to suggest this is a
good to very good, if not all time great vintage. In such extreme growing
conditions, there was always going to be a degree of variability amongst the
2012s. As ever a grower either managed the conditions well or not, but
particularly stark this year was how some terroirs generally performed better
than others. The concentration in this vintage has served to magnify a
vineyard’s characteristics rather than mask them, but sometimes to the point of
caricature.