Côte d'Or – a 2017 exception

In beautiful autumn sunshine, as here on the road into Morey-St-Denis, while we awaited the results of the World Wine Tasting Championships, I was able to quiz Gregory Patriat, head winemaker of JC Boisset, sponsors of this tasting Olympiad, about the 2017 harvest in Burgundy. 

‘Big and early’ just about sums it up. ‘We’re so happy to have made a real vintage – for the first time since 2009!', said Patriat delightedly. The total French wine harvest may be expected to be the smallest since 1945, but for once there were no terrible meteorological accidents in Burgundy – no...