Vintage reports.
What we have tasted from each year, what to buy, and what to age.
Burgundy 2022 — an open, fleshy vintage that drinks early and rewards patience.
Burgundy 2022 will go down as one of the most emotionally satisfying vintages of the decade. After two challenging seasons (frost in 2021, drought stress in late 2020), 2022 produced ripe, fruit-forward Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with generous mid-palates and a gentle, drinkable structure. The reds are unusually approachable for young Burgundy, with bright cherry, soft tannin, and the kind of perfume that makes you reach for a second glass before the first is empty.
We are seeing strong showings up and down the Côte. Domaine Henri Boillot, Hubert Lamy, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, and Sylvain Pataille all delivered wines that are lifted, polished, and quietly age-worthy. The whites have terrific acidity given how warm the season was — a credit to careful picking decisions across the region.
What to buy now: village-level reds and 1er Cru whites are drinking beautifully and represent excellent value compared to the better-known 2018s and 2019s. What to wait on: Premier Cru and Grand Cru reds will give back ten years of cellaring and reward serious patience.
Recent allocations on the floor: Bouchard Père et Fils Vol©e-Voulnay, Domaine Faiveley Mercurey 1er Cru, Marc Colin Saint-Aubin 1er Cru. Ask the team about current availability — the better names move quickly.
Bordeaux 2021 — a classical, food-driven vintage in a market that still misunderstands it.
The 2021 vintage in Bordeaux was widely panned in the trade press before the wines were even bottled. The reality is more nuanced. After a difficult growing season — spring frost, mildew pressure, a cool and rainy summer — the best estates produced wines of restraint, freshness, and real classical proportion. These are not the dense, oak-forward Bordeaux of warm vintages. They are mid-weight, herbal-edged, and built for the dinner table.
On the Left Bank, look at Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Pichon Lalande, and Château Léoville Las Cases — all bottles that show what careful sorting and reduced new oak can do in a cool year. On the Right Bank, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Figeac shine with finesse most years cannot deliver.
What to buy now: 2021 Cru Bourgeois and lesser-known Right Bank Merlot-led wines are tremendous food wines at fair prices. What to age: classed-growth Médoc 2021 will likely settle into a gracious mid-life around year fifteen. These will not be high-scoring magazine wines. They will be wonderful at the table.
A few specific bottles to look for: Château Sociando-Mallet, Château La Lagune, Château Cantemerle. Quietly excellent, fairly priced, and ready to pour with a roast in two or three years.
Northern Rhône 2020 — a heat-stressed vintage that produced the most exciting Syrah of the decade.
Northern Rhône 2020 was a hot, dry year — the kind of vintage that traditionally produces big, broad, sometimes confected Syrah. What actually happened in the best cellars was different. Producers who picked early, used whole-cluster fermentation, and resisted the urge to over-extract created wines of remarkable purity, with cool-climate restraint despite the warm season. These are wines with structure, lift, and a genuine sense of place.
Standout bottles include Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie, Domaine Faury Saint-Joseph, Maxime Graillot Crozes-Hermitage, and Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 60. Each one demonstrates that Northern Rhône can produce age-worthy Syrah even in challenging years if the picking discipline is right.
What to drink now: Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph are accessible and showing beautifully. What to age: Cornas, Hermitage, and the better Côte-Rôties will continue to gain complexity through 2035 and beyond. The 2020s are not for everyone — they are concentrated, structured wines that demand food — but for serious Syrah drinkers, this is a vintage to stack.
We have allocations on most of these names. The Vincent Paris in particular is one of the best Cornas releases we have seen in fifteen years. Available at the shop in single-bottle quantities; ask Brett about case-rate access.
A vintage report you can taste, not just read.
Brett opens flight nights for cellar clients three or four times a year — usually built around a single producer or vintage. Wine Wednesdays at the shop are open to everyone.
Visit the shop