Despite the (very) hot and dry season, 2022 wasn’t a typical année solaire, according to the verdicts of Burgundy’s winemakers, with quality and quantity to be found, many early-drinking options, but reds to lay down, too. Our expert’s selection of 40 excellent whites and reds will point the way...
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he 2022 growing season from April to September saw near-record heat and sunshine for the Burgundy region, but well-timed rains helped to deliver grapes that exhibited few characteristics of a hot summer. The fruit was healthy and ripe, with often lower alcohol levels than in 2020 – also a year of significant heat along with drought across Burgundy – and just slightly lower acidity. In the context of what Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac calls ‘the new normal’, such a result in 2022 must be called an encouraging success.
STYLE & QUALITY
The red wines from 2022 are deeply coloured, with a lush fruit expression, full body, welldeveloped but velvety tannins and abundant extract. The whites have a lush fruit character spanning ripe apple, peach and apricot and relatively soft acidity, suggesting these wines are primarily for early drinking. To achieve proper balance, some winemakers had to acidify. In both reds and whites, it is the acid balance that holds 2022 Burgundy back from the very highest level, but the wines will be accessible and earlydrinking, and the reds should age well.
Overall quality is very high for red wines and good to very good for white wines. The red wines are consistent from the Côte de Nuits [in the north] down through the Côte Chalonnaise, and there will be many wines worth laying down. The effect of the heat on the white wines becomes more pronounced as one moves south, though there are exceptions to this and whites also worthy of ageing. In terms of quantity, the yield was up more than 70% from the frost-stricken 2021 harvest – hopefully this will help growers avoid price increases (see ‘Uncorked’, p8).
WATER STORY After a cold snap in January 2022, February was much warmer than average and March continued warm, exposing the vineyards to frost in April. Fortunately, the vines had not yet started their growth in earnest, and when the frost arrived between 3-11 April, damage was limited.
Warmer weather followed the frost, and the vines developed quickly. Flowering occurred from 19-26 May, two weeks ahead of the norm. There was very little loss to coulure or millerandage [fruit-set problems], presaging a very large crop. Just after the bunches formed, the region received a deluge of rain over five days from 21-25 June that varied from 20mm-90mm according to the region, with localised flooding exacerbating things in places.
