By Nicholas Harary
Great Burgundy is always in short supply.Mother Nature’s Impact on Burgundy
That’s part of its appeal, each producer making small batches of wines with a serious sense of place. But Mother Nature has not been kind to Burgundy and its fans over the last few years.
Burgundy really hasn’t had a “normal” vintage in terms of yield since 2009. Severe spring frosts and vicious hailstorms have wreaked havoc on the vines of Burgundy in each of the last three vintages, reducing the amount of wine produced by up to 75 percent in some villages.
Earlier this summer, Mother Nature struck again – the fourth year in a row. Our chef de cuisine was vacationing in Burgundy during the storm and he sent pictures of the hail and vine damage in real time. Before the storm was over, I was on the phone to my primary Burgundy importer buying as many older vintages as I could because we all know the laws of supply and demand.
In Burgundy, the demand never wavers but the supply has met a perfect storm.
Alain Burguet’s Gevrey Chambertin 2010 is one of those gems I locked into before the prices jumped. If you love complex, world-class Pinot, you should jump too.
Alain Burguet, along with his sons Eric and Jean-Luc, are masters of Gevrey-Chambertin. Their 2010s are classics with deep color, aromatic complexity and textbook balance. The run of low yields started here, their production of the Gevrey Villages was down 45 percent from the year before. But what was left is so good, with wild berry aromas, intense concentration and a long, mineral finish.
This is among the best of Burgundy, better yet, it’s a got a pre-hail storm price tag at $75 a bottle.
Nicholas Harary is the owner/executive chef of Restaurant Nicholas, located in Red Bank. It is New Jersey’s highest-rated Zagat restaurant. Nicholas Wines is an online retail wine shop that commits to storing wine at 56 degrees and ships nationwide. Wines can be ordered by logging onto www.restaurantnicholas.com.
