Burgundy hails ‘exceptional quality’ of 2021 ‘ghost vintage’

Burgundy
Pic: LucTheo, Pixabay

Burgundy is set to classify the 2021 ‘ghost vintage’ as ‘exceptional’, despite it having less wine than your local supermarket.

Off the charts

‘Whenever a  vintage is smaller than usual, you have to say that the quality is amazing,’ said Pugh Ligny of the Burgundian Union of Negotiants, Growers, Labelstrokers and Exporters (BUNGLE).

‘That’s the rules.

‘So given how totally shafted we’ve been by the weather this year, it’s no surprise that 2021 is off the charts.’

Also amazing

However, sources at Wine Trade France (WTF) told Fake Booze that it was dangerous to draw over-simplistic conclusions.

‘You can’t argue with the logic that small vintages are always good,’ they said. ‘That’s probably been proved by science.

‘But higher volume vintages are usually amazing as well.

‘As, indeed, are average-sized ones.’

WTF said they couldn’t remember the last time Burgundy had a bad year, though there might have been one in the 1950s ‘before they got the hang of marketing.’

Simply exceptional

According to BUNGLE, two regions of Burgundy stood out in particular this year.

‘The vineyards north of Beaune are looking very good,’ said Ligny. ‘We are expecting three or four barrels of really good Pinot Noir from there.’

Quality south of the town, he said, was ‘exceptional – particularly for a region with no grapes.’

Worth paying for

Official sources in the region have admitted there will be a ‘small drop’ in production this year from 16m cases to ‘about 60.’

As a result of this, prices are expected to rise ‘slightly’ to about €200,000/case.

‘To be honest,’ said Ligny, ‘since nobody has been able to afford Burgundy for the last 15 years anyway, I doubt anyone will notice.’

Spectacular bunches

Nix Croppe of Domaine des Raisins Foutus told Fake Booze he was excited about the quality of this year’s vintage.

‘I picked a couple of spectacular bunches from my Montrachet vineyard,’ he said. ‘Admittedly, not enough to make into wine, but they’ll be great with a platter of cheese.’

Those who fared best, he said, were those who picked early.

‘Specifically in 2020.’

It’s ‘superyum’ – official

Magazines all over the world were lining up to say how excited they were by the uniqueness of the 2021 vintage.

‘It’s unusual to see a region going from budburst to press release with so little actual winemaking in between,’ said Una Critical of The Drinks Bore.

‘But our advertisers tell us everything’s fine and that’s good enough for me.’

Meanwhile, in the States, uber-critic Jay Sockthing said he was giving the vintage a preliminary score of ‘98 out of 20 Double Gold Superyum’ but that this was a ‘conservative estimate’ and ‘could go higher if I drink more coffee.’

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