2001 Burgundy Vintage

2001 was a wet, cool and cloudy year in Burgundy. Flowering was late and drawn out, leading to uneven ripeness at harvest, and the June flowering was so prolonged that many grapes were at different stages of ripeness. July was miserably cold and wet, only drying up at the end of the month. Then came a hailstorm on 2 August, which hit Volnay and parts of Monthelie and Pommard particularly badly and also affected parts of Auxey and Meursault, with an even more devastating effect in Bouzeron in the Cote Chalonnaise. The rest of August was fine, thickening the grape skins, and a brief heatwave came at the end of the month. September was grey and cool, with intermittent rain during the harvest. Picking began in the Cote de Beaune on 17 September, on Thursday 20 September in the Cote de Nuits and six days after the Cote de Beaune in Chablis, and much of the Cote de Nuits was not cleared until after the 28th, in much warmer, sunnier weather. The red crop was marginally below the five year average and the white yield above it, though a lot less than in 2000; Jancis Robinson described a crop smaller than usual.

• The 2 August hail wiped out that year's production from some of Volnay's finest vines, and Jacques d'Angerville lost more than half his potential crop
• The hail almost wiped out Bouzeron and had severe effects in Rully and parts of Mercurey
• Rain was much more damaging in the Maconnais and Chablis, where Chardonnay suffered from mildew, rot and lack of ripeness; many Chablis growers ended up with rotten or unripe grapes after a very rainy September
• Many growers doubled their pickers to clear the vineyards before the weather deteriorated a week later, and the harvest was unusually extended as growers waited on less well exposed vineyards to ripen

Decanter's red guide found the Cote de Nuits both more successful and more consistent than the Cote de Beaune, helped by finer weather during the harvest and less humid conditions earlier in September. The vintage was at its best in Gevrey-Chambertin, with some lovely Nuits-Saint-Georges, less burly and with more sophisticated tannins than usual. In the Cote de Beaune, quality improved the further north one went: Savigny ahead of Santenay, Beaune and Pommard more satisfactory than Volnay. For whites, Decanter called the Cote d'Or heterogeneous, especially in Saint-Aubin and to a lesser extent in Chassagne and Puligny, and best in Meursault and Corton-Charlemagne. Chablis was unexpectedly good in the best cellars.

• Charles Lea of Lea & Sandeman said the northern Cote de Nuits was consistently pretty good, while Chablis seemed relatively weak all over
• Iain Muggoch of Bibendum called 2001 a very good vintage that falls short of being a classic, and "incredibly grower-selective"
• The Beaujolais crop was large and the fruit healthy, with quality better as one climbs into the 10 crus, Decanter found
• Cote Chalonnaise whites were medium weight and fruity with good acidity, and Maconnais whites crisp, clean and flowery

Jancis Robinson titled her report on the vintage a connoisseur's vintage and wrote that the real story was how much better the reds turned out than was first thought. The wines went into barrel with very high malic acidity and, for the reds, marked and sometimes underripe tannins; a late, prolonged malolactic fermentation softened them considerably. She found the reds far from concentrated, with relatively thick skins giving deep crimson colours, and the best of them ultra-pure. Cote d'Or whites, in her view, had refreshing acidity and medium body. Decanter summed up the reds as intensely fruity with clear terroir distinction and the whites as relatively crisp with good mineral definition.

• Philippe Prost of Bouchard Pere et Fils said the Cote de Beaune whites had "a streak of broad acidity"
• Sorting tables were essential for discarding grapes that were unripe, unhealthy or burnt by the late August heatwave
• Robinson noted a rather hot, alcoholic finish on many whites, offering sugar addition only as a theory
• Decanter suggested starting Cote de Nuits village reds from 2007/2008, premiers crus from 2010 and grands crus from 2012

Bernard Dugat-Py of Gevrey-Chambertin told Robinson that "the 2001s will keep longer than the 2000s but probably not as long as the 1999s." Robinson called it a surprisingly good vintage but not a great one, even more variable than 2000, with reds in general more thrilling than whites. Christian Honorez of H&H Bancroft said he thought the Cote de Beaune reds were quite a lot better than 2000, while Charles Lea suggested the northern Cote de Nuits may end up better balanced in 2001 than in 2002.

• Robinson compared the way the 2001s showed their worth in barrel to the 1991s and 1993s
• Muggoch found the reds from Pommard up much more structured than 2000
• Robinson judged it worth paying for Premier Cru and sometimes Grand Cru wines