Burgundy White Wine Vintage Chart: 1983 to 2022

2022

This vintage more than delivered on quality and sorely needed quantity (75.4% more wine produced overall than in 2021). The growing season was incredibly hot but, due to large volumes of precipitation in June, vines weathered the summer well. Wines are admirably fresh but without the same concentration as in 2019 and 2020 and without the austerity of 2021. Approachable now with medium term aging potential for the best wines. Find our full coverage of the vintage here.

2021

Devastating frosts in April reduced yields by 50% throughout Burgundy. Chardonnay was particularly hard hit and the crop in Chablis and the Mâconnais was all but wiped out. A cool, wet growing season with a final burst of sunshine in mid September has resulted in classically styled wines with a good deal of acidity and more restrained fruit than in recent years. If you can get your hands on 2021s they are well worth cellaring. The minuscule amount of wine that did come out of the Mâconnais is particularly exciting. Find our full coverage of the vintage here. 

2020

A consistently warm (but not hot) growing season resulted in excellent fruit set and one of the earliest harvests on record. Wines are well-balanced with beautiful concentration and crystalline acidity. A sibling to 2019 but with longer aging potential. Excellent quality to be had at all price points.

2019

An exceptionally small white wine vintage throughout Burgundy due to cold, wet, and windy conditions at flowering. The inclement spring was followed by a hot, dry summer with multiple heatwaves. The result is rich, generously-fruited whites that nonetheless have fresh and lively acidity. Very good wines to be found at all price points. Approachable now with medium-term aging potential for top wines (around a decade). Find all of our coverage on 2019 Burgundy here.

2018

After plentiful rain and a perfect flowering an exceptional quantity of grapes were picked pretty early after the long hot summer. They yielded a surprising amount of juice but, generally, no lack of concentration. The unexpectedly crisp wines charmed early tasters. It remains to be seen how they will age.

2017

Chablis suffered greatly from frost in 2017, resulting in very reduced volumes. As ever, the irony seems to be that what remains is very good quality, as it is in the Côte d’Or. Cooler nights across the region have resulted in higher-than-usual acidity, with good conditions throughout the harvest season allowing for ripe, healthy fruit.

2016

Damaging hailstorms and frost meant that yields are down across the region, by as much as 50% in Chablis. However, what remains is considered good quality in a classic style – that is, without any particular extremes of acid, alcohol, body or fruit concentration.

2015

An early vintage with a very warm, dry summer. Chablis was affected by hail in early September, damaging 300 hectares of vineyard. Lower acidity levels make the wines richer but less precise than the 2014s.

2014

Rather promising wines have emerged from a season that started unusually early after a mild winter and usefully wet early March followed by a very dry spring. Weather during flowering was almost too hot and dry. A cool, damp summer slowed ripening so that a fair quantity of grapes with good acid levels were picked at the usual time.  

2013

A disappointment to Burgundy’s Chardonnay growers who had hoped for higher volumes than 2012. Instead, a short crop thanks to the cold spring was diminished still further by the careful fruit selection required after an erratic summer. All in all, producers intent on quality have acquitted themselves well.

2012

Produced very low volumes of Chardonnay in Burgundy. What there is, however, is being welcomed with cautious enthusiasm. As with the reds, poor quality was expected after such challenging weather conditions, but the first tastings indicated the wines are very good. A triumph against adversity, perhaps?

2011

Less ripe than the previous two vintages, needing chaptalisation in many cases. Chaotic weather made this a tricky growing season overall bu tthe resulting wines tune out well balanced with both fruit and desfinition.

2010

High acidity, after the more opulent style of the 2009s. A small, ripe crop – although a storm in early September did produce some rot, so sorting was crucial – as ever.

2009

Good, healthy and high quality across the region. Warm conditions and fairly large yields have given balanced grapes, and most agree 2009 whites are at least on a par with 2005. 

2008

Challenging climatic conditions abounded throughout the season, leading to high acidity that gives these whites a particular freshness. Challenging, then, but as ever the best producers have made some spectacular wines.

2007

Another challenging summer with no shortage of rain but for once Chardonnay flowered after Pinot Noir and was more reliably saved by the drying winds that arrived in late August. Crisper whites than in 2005 and 2006.

2006

Poor summer was followed by much-needed fine weather in early September producing a relatively consistent crop of early-maturing, quite fleshy whites.

2005

Very concentrated wines that should last much longer than most white burgundy vintages. Promising indeed.

2004

Acid levels are relatively high and these are not massive wines so are best for classicists who like their white burgundy to be quite angular.

2003

A very difficult year with exceptionally low levels of acid, some of them made from grapes that shrivelled rather than ripened. Curious.

2002

Good quality and quantity.

2001

Erratic weather produced some rot but also some surprisingly good white wines, if not for the long term, as well as some rather thin, disappointing ones. A variable vintage that rewarded those who limited yields. Devastating hail in parts of the Côte Chalonnaise.

2000

Extremely ripe, sometimes too ripe, healthy grapes with fairly good acidity that were able to charm even in their youth. Especially good for Chablis and the Mâconnais.

1999

Large crop ripened by fine weather in late August and early September. Generally slightly crisper than the 2000s and the best may last longer – if they are allowed to.

1998

Everything went wrong: frost, hail, powdery mildew. Respectable, considering.

1997

Charming wines for relatively early drinking.

1996

As with the reds, acidity is the keynote. The best-balanced are stunning but some are a bit meagre.

1995

Very small crop producing wines with real concentration.

1994

Generally better than the reds and certainly more consistent, especially the Mâconnais.

1993

A large, ripe harvest struck by rain, so concentration was a problem.

1992

Balanced, elegant and refined: best from the Côte d’Or rather than Chablis.

1991

Rain reduced acidity and concentration, some were delightful but many were dilute.

1990

Very ripe but yields were just too high for profound wines. Chablis best.

1989

A medium-sized crop produced spectacularly rich and horribly expensive wines.

1988

Pretty lean and astringent.

1986

Not as consistent as 1985, but great from reliable growers.

1985

Beautifully balanced, expansive wines.

1983

Huge and alcoholic, the few with acidity to balance were spectacular.