Vin d’émotion – Burgundies of passion … 5 years on

In the fall of 2019, four wine geeks gathered in a small house in Vosne-Romanée. The group was made up of two vignerons: Mathieu Moron, Pierre-Olivier Garcia, an amateur vigneron and wine dealer, Tavs Ritzau and me the – the critic … the Winehog, Steen Ohman.

The first article about vin d’émotion can be seen here.

It was just an ordinary evening where we discussed and tasted some wines. Nothing was planned … aside from enjoying wine together.

Suddenly, the concept, or the idea, of Vin d’émotion emerged from the stems and was loosely formulated after discussions within this small group.

I then created the actual definition, wording, and finally, the rating scale in its current form. A lot of input was given from different geeks, and though they were in on the core of the idea, don’t blame the rest of the fine group.

Vin d’émotion is all about very basic qualities – freshness, energy, balance, sense of lightness, liveliness and effortlessness, but first and foremost, the wines should provide joy, pleasure, drinkability and the urge to get the next glass.

In the end, less is more, and the more you try to explain vin d’émotion, the more you will confuse the discussion. In conclusion, it is simply hedonistic joy …

So, we can disagree about the style of the wine. Some like oak … some like whole cluster, but the basic qualities are at the core, and one can find wines that fulfil the Vin d’émotion qualities within most styles of wine.

Global warming

In my opinion, global warming has a lot to do with the factors that we consider as fundamentals for Vin d’émotion. The increasing ripeness sets a stronger focus on energy, sense of lightness and liveliness. Especially for everyday enjoyment, the French expression a vin “léger” covers words like lightweight or lightfooted.

A word like lightness has not often been used concerning Vin d’émotion and even less so around Burgundies as a whole. For many years, concentration was the mantra for the vignerons, but mark my words … a “sense of lightness” is really what you should be looking for, and a sense of concentration is definitely not the goal where more is always better.

So, a “sense of lightness” is one of the parameters, as is freshness, energy and effortlessness … meaning that the wine should have a feeling of lightness and effortlessness carried by the freshness and energy. The French term “léger” is perhaps the best … often used by a dear and lovely female friend when ordering a Champagne or a red wine, “frais et léger.”

Take the best 2023s, for example; they often have the vivid freshness and energy, whereas the 2022s are sweeter on the mid-palate – sometimes lacking the sense of lightness and drinkability due to the slightly sticky sweetness that some of the wines have.

This could also explain the difference between a point wine and an emotional wine.

Vin d’émotion is not points

It is important to understand that points and emotional rating do not go hand in hand.

The emotional rating is based on the criteria for Vin d’émotion and even lesser wines can have a top rating … three hearts.

A traditional rating is more conventional and one can have good points ratings on a wine with no/low emotional rating. The wines with 92 points might be flawless in traditional terms while lacking in emotional qualities.

I have tasted 94p wines where two people will struggle to drink a full bottle, as it doesn’t provide joy nor the urge to take another glass.

There are many, many wines that are technically flawless, but have no emotional joy to provide. They are just plain old boring.

Vin d’émotion in essence

We can try to put a lot of words on the Vin d’émotion term, however, this will not help define the emotional wine. An emotional wine … big, small, cheap or expensive … Pinot or Grenache …. Chardonnay or Riesling … they will always have the ability to tempt, provide pleasure and joy … and create the need and urge to drink one more glass …

Ultimately, the drinkability is the core of a vin d’émotion, and this goes for cheap Beaujoulais to top-end Haut Brion 1989 or a DRC Romanée Saint-Vivant 2009. They have it: the strong urge to pour and enjoy another glass. The bottle will soon be empty!

You can try to explain it, but you will only get a part of the way. Energy is definitely a part of it, as is effortlessness, but hedonistic joy is the essence … seduce me!

A series about vin d´émotion

I will try to expand on Vin d’émotion as this rating is becoming the main and perhaps only relevant evaluation … in my book at least!

Stay tuned!