Final view of the 2023 vintage

July 2025 and most of the 2023 tastings are now completed. It is therefore time to wrap up the vintage and look forward to 2024 and the 2025 vintages that are just around the corner.

I got a jump on the vintage already in November 2023, when Cécile Tremblay showed me her 2023s in connection with tasting the ’22s. I was thoroughly impressed by them, and while it was early, the vintage seemed promising

This is a fresh and vivid vintage … frais et léger … with a playful lightness not found in the more concentrated and somewhat sweeter/riper 2022s.

The airiness of the 2023s is, to a large degree, due to the high yields … wines beyond 40 hl per ha are not unusual. Some wines are somewhat diluted, but it seems that many wines have a nice balance.

The high yields do give a beautiful drinkability in many wines, and together with the lively acidity, we see some very gourmand wines … vin d’émotion in many cases.

However, it is not a GREAT vintage! The core focus and intensity is very good, but not super impressive. There are quite a few wines that had too much phenolic ripeness due to the canicule during the first weeks of September.

The enormous yields

Vineyards unconstrained by green harvest in 2023 often produced an abundant amount of fruit. The grape bunches were huge in some places, with some clusters weighing in at over double the normal weight. For Pinot Noir, the yield was occasionally 80 hectoliters/hectare, and even pushed 100hl/ha in some cases!

This is not legal, so green harvest was frequently used to get the yields below the limits. With Pinot, quality is often impacted when the yield goes beyond 40hl/ha. But more importantly, last-minute yield reduction (dropping fruit just before harvest) does not produce the same qualitative effect as green harvesting which is done in stages well ahead of harvest.

For the whites, acceptable yields are much higher. But to accept 80hl/ha is perhaps extending the limits too far, especially when the rules say differently. Again, there are rules for the yields.

The style of the red 2023s

In general, the ripeness level is very good with a tendency to overripeness in sensitive areas harvested after the heat wave. Ripeness in ’23 is not as uniform as the previous year, and there are signs of ripeness variability within the same area. The high yields often prevent a uniform ripeness … This can give a nice, vivid ripeness if you are lucky or talented. By this, I mean … 2023 was not a walk in the park vinification … there are variations and pitfalls.

The harvest was spread over a long period, so expect some variation in alcohol and phenolic ripeness from different domaines and even among wines from the same producer. There are surprises, it seems, within the different line-ups.

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