You Want the Truth? You Can’t Handle the Truth!

I taste a lot of the best Burgundies available, and while I avoid most of the worst producers and the worst wines, I still taste some truly awful, sloppy stuff.

Some producers happily ignore problems with their wines, while simultaneously neglecting quality issues related to excessive production.

I am not here to make enemies. However, I have not become Burgundian with the sole purpose of making friends either.

So vigneron: If you want the rewards that come from high prices, then you have to deliver. And not every second year, or sometimes even more erratically.

Taking the ‘Hog up a notch

I have decided to take the critic role up a notch, and address some of the problematic wines head-on.

And after attending the 14th edition of the trade event Les Nuits au Grand Jour, I decided to re-evaluate some of my efforts.

I have been to many of these tastings, and only managed because I tasted a small proportion of the wines there, carefully avoiding the worst ones. In reality, these are a majority of the wines presented, and they taste completely indifferent or, even worse, are directly off-putting.

Certain producers make the same rubbish each year, while also increasing prices year by year.

So I have decided in future to avoid more of the big tastings that I have previously attended, partly as a friendly gesture to the village and its vignerons.

Secondly, I will use a louder voice on issues like problematically reduced wines and other faults some vignerons think they can sell without a critical word from the press.

I get very tired when, for the third time in a row, I get a stinkily reduced wine from the same highly praised producer. I GET VERY, VERY TIRED.

A tired ‘Hog is not a joking matter. So: Can they handle the truth?