Bourgogne 2022: ‘A generous and promising vintage’

By James Bayley

Published: 15 November, 2022

The Bourgogne 2022 harvest report has been released and, “after three years of quality without quantity”, the yields this year are said to be plentiful, thus taking the pressure off sales and allowing stocks to be built back up.

According to Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB), the vines stood up pretty well despite extreme weather, from frost to heatwaves and drought. Budburst was later than in recent years, which helped protect the vines from the April frost.

Like many areas of Europe the appellation was deprived of water, however, the wines are reportedly revealing aromas of fresh fruit and good degrees of alcohol potential.

“The vines were able to make juice from almost no water at all: Once the bunches formed, they enjoyed heavy rain in June and a few stormy showers in mid-August to produce abundant, aromatic, and balanced juice,” the report stated.

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However, this was not the earliest Bourgogne vintage we have seen in recent years. Harvesting began slowly on 16 August for some Crémant vines, whilst grapes for still wines began to be gathered on 20 August on the Côte de Beaune.

The rest of the region followed on behind, with the last bunches brought in from the Côte de Nuits, the Hautes Côtes, and the Chablis region during the third week of September.

It was an unusual harvest in that picking was spread out over several weeks. This was reportedly due to a “diversity in ripeness, good weather, and unexpected volumes”.

“Almost all the grapes had good sugar levels towards the end so it fell to the acidity content to determine when the grapes needed to be cut. Yields were high for both white and red, with crates filled with perfect bunches leading certain producers to vinify in whole bunches,” the report concluded.

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