2023 La Paulee Grand Tasting of 2020 Burgundy

Pier 60, New York
Tasted Saturday, March 4, 2023 by drwine2001 with 409 views

Introduction

The Grand Tasting was truly spectacular this year-impressive line up of old and new producers, many fantastic wines, delicious bites from a number of fine New York restaurants, and a wonderful, spacious venue so the crowding didn't get too crazy. Congratulations to Daniel Johnnes and the Pressoir group for putting together a truly first class event.

Of the 160+ wines shown, I tasted about half of them over the 3 hours that the tasting spanned. There was such an embarrassment of riches that I completely skipped over some excellent domains (e.g., Germain, Leroux, Croix) and tasted very selectively at other tables. I'm certain that I missed some other gems, but as delicious as the wines were, it is impossible to avoid palate fatigue with so many of them.

Flight 1 (76 Notes)

Closing

I went into the tasting with a fair degree of skepticism about the reds-so much preceding hype and such a warm vintage. Suffice it to say that I walked away astounded and thrilled by the quality. Why? First, the overall level of the reds was just mind bending. There were very few off, frankly flawed, or just plain mediocre wines, which speaks to the winemaking strides made in Burgundy over the past few decades. Second, it was amazing to see how the winemakers (and vines?) have adjusted to increasing temperatures, at least for the moment. I expected to run into high alcohol and surmaturité but didn't find a single example of either. I feared overly rich wines wanting more acidity and freshness. While the depth of fruit and roundness are incredible, to my delight, the wines did not seem too syrupy or fat since amazingly, in most cases, the acidity is sound or much better than that. Third, unlike some other ripe vintages such as 2005 and 2015 which shut down for long periods of time, most of these wines are not so harsh or austere that they are likely to have prolonged sullen periods. They should provide joy and pleasure over a broad time span. Finally, I worried that the heat would bake the Burgundy character out of some wines, but what I tasted was not some transplanted version of ripe, New World Pinot Noir! It was Burgundy, with all of its unique soil, fragrance, and even some of the green tones that one associates with cooler years. Interestingly, some of the domains that traditionally make leaner, more structured wines used the richness of the year to great effect to produce wines with a fabulous balance of fruit and structure. It is a great year. The only caveat is that if you are averse to deeply fruited red wines, this will not be vintage for you. For everyone else, I would say that if you have the resources, go out and buy as much of these wines as you can afford, or at very least, taste a few to get a sense of whether it is for you. The nice thing is that you can buy up and down the hierarchy since the quality of the vintage pulled up the "lesser" wines as well as the expectedly great ones.

Although I sampled far fewer whites, I think the situation is more complicated. It is understandable that to some extent, the white wines have been caught up in the halo effect of the reds, but we all know that the same year in Burgundy can have quite different results in white and red. The whites I tried generally had great richness, but very variable acidity and lift. Some are frankly deficient in acidity and really lack shape and precision. You will not find the tension and cut of 2014 or even 2017. That doesn't mean that there weren't some great wines. The material can be pretty stunning, and some producers managed to retain outstanding acidity. Whereas you can throw a dart and find an excellent red, this is not the case with the whites. I think you have to be more selective to find things that are to your taste.

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