The growing season and the wines according to Neal Martin
High levels of rainfall and fair weather in 2023 resulted in impressive yields across Burgundy. In his Burgundy 2023 report, ‘The Lord Giveth…’, Neal Martin (Vinous) calls potential buyers to heed the difference between ‘excessive’ and ‘optimal’ yields. He expands the report’s title to ‘… And Vignerons Taketh Away’ — a nod to the widespread green harvesting and use of vine management techniques in the 23s growing season. According to him, while there will no doubt be some diluted 23s, he is ‘hard pushed to think of another vintage so pleasurable from barrel’.
So long as Pinot Noir yields were sufficiently controlled, the reds ‘combine the ripeness of 2020 with the freshness of 2017’ and, provided harvests were carefully timed, the whites ‘lean towards a sunnier style of Chardonnay’ while ‘maintaining sufficient acidity levels and low PHs to counterbalance any richness’.
While there may not be too much cause for concern over these high yields impacting quality, it may disrupt the demand-supply balance. Martin warns that, this year, ‘producers should not take it for granted that they will sell their entire crop’.
Neal Martin awarded 98-100 points — his only potentially perfect score of the 2023 Burgundy vintage – to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti Grand Cru. According to him, the palate is ‘ineffably complex’ and the finish ‘kaleidoscopic’, this vintage being ‘one of the best’ he has ever tasted.
Three wines received his next best score of 97-99 points: Domaine Marc Colin’s Montrachet Grand Cru, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé’s Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru and Domaine Armand Rousseau’s Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru. A further 21 wines received a 96-98 point score.
His top 25 included three Montrachets, two Richebourgs and two Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses. Other appellations had at most one representative. While Montrachet has a strong reputation for producing Burgundy’s best (regardless of vintage), it is possible that the Montrachet’s propensity for producing more elegant styles gave it the upper hand over the likes of Meursault in this warm vintage. Richebourgs are better known for their opulence and intensity, which may have safeguarded these wines in a vintage that drew concerns over dilution.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Denis Mortet, Domaine Dujac, Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat and Domaine Jean Grivot each had two entries into the list.
When will they enter the market?
Despite the 2022 vintage only beginning to trade in high volumes in the second half of 2024, it came in as the top-traded vintage by volume (19.8% of the region’s trade). The 2021 vintage, produced in very small quantities and generally released at a significant premium to others available on the market, was less dominant, accounting for only 7.7% of Burgundy volume traded in 2022.
While the 2023s are not expected to be released at discounts to the 2022s, they have been abundantly produced, and the vintage itself is proving well-received, boding well for their potential uptake.
Burgundy 150 price performance
Having risen in price more sharply than any other region during the 2021-2022 bull run, Burgundy prices have fallen fast. This is especially true of the region’s heavy hitters – many of which are components of the Burgundy 150 Index. Only 15 of the 150 have seen their prices increase over the past year. Most of these strong performers are pre-2015 vintages; all are pre-2020. While the chart below shows poor average performance for the 2010 and 2011 vintages, very few remain in the Burgundy 150. It is prices of more recent vintages that have seen the most robust downward trends.
Domaine Georges Roumier, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru is, on average, the worst-performing wine in the Burgundy 150, down 44.0% over the past two years and 24% over the past year. Joseph Drouhin’s Montrachet Grand Cru, Marquis de Laguiche is the best-performing overall, down 7.4% over the past year and 1.0% over the past two years. While traded volumes of both wines have seen year-on-year traded volumes decrease, Marquis de Laguiche trades significantly more frequently than the Bonnes Mares. The former also boasts a stronger supply-demand balance. Marquis de Laguiche’s bid:offer ratio sits at 0.3 — while not a ratio that we would consider healthy, it is a stretch higher than the Bonnes Mares’ at 0.04. The wine’s strong performance relative to the rest of the region was reflected in the 2024 Power 100. Burgundy had seven brands fall off the list, but Drouhin managed to climb up one spot, finishing in 4th place overall.
Technical analysis of the Burgundy 150 index
The Burgundy 150 index is currently navigating a bearish trend that is moving into the medium-term. With some prices doubling between January 2020 and January 2022, this correction was no doubt necessary. The recent crossing of the 7-month Simple Moving Average (SMA) over the 20-month SMA forewarns that we may not have seen the end of downward price movements.
The Lower Bollinger Band does appear to be flattening, however, and may provide some dynamic support in the coming months. Should prices continue to fall, technical analysis would suggest the next available support will be the 2020 lows around the 500 mark (18.5% below the current level).
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real-time activity of Liv-ex’s 620+ merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £140m of bids and offers across 20,000 wines.
