The 2023 white Burgundies – Take 1

I have now have started to taste the big producers of white 2023s, and must say that the diversity of the vintage matches that of the reds … i.e. big variation in yields and phenolic ripeness.

This is a vintage that can and often will offer great pleasure, but it is sadly a very bumpy ride, as the wines even within the same lineups can be very different in ripeness and quality-wise.

The whites confirm that the vintage is very variable … in fact, the most variable vintage I have seen during my more than 20 years in Burgundy.

The variation in phenolic ripeness is huge in some domaines … and it seems that the variation in the whites is even bigger than in the reds, with some whites clearly phenolicly overripe and lacking some freshnness and energy.

The hot weather during the harvest in 2023 sometimes ment that one day or even only hours could mean a world of difference … it seems!

To me it seems that the whites are in fact harder nail by the phenolic ripeness and that some estates simply lacked time to havest all in time … the ripeness window was too short for some.

So priorities had to be made … for good and for worse.

Symptoms

The whites have some more and less typical symptoms of overripeness… like darker fruit (yellow hint or dense sweeter fruit) being less precise and feeling denser and even a bit heavy. The freshness and the liveliness will lack as the denser fruit increases.

In some cases this can be the question of one day … in cooler terroirs this could take longer … but as mentioned … sometimes there was not enough time.

The overproduction – good and bad

The production in 2023 was amble and then some. So some dilution is seen in quite many wines both red and white.

In the reds yields more than 45 hl/ha is a problem, but in the whites higher yields are acceptable in many cases.

Higher yields make the wines thinner and ultimately even watery, and this will in fact help in the case of overripe phenolics …

Please note overripeness will never be solved by overproduction … but the feeling of lacking acidity can be helped by lacking weight.

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