FRANCE: White Burgundy
2016 Gold: 4 Silver: 7 Bronze: 0 Commended: 2
2015 Gold: 2 Silver: 7 Bronze: 4 Commended: 10
Burgundy might be having its issues with volume (specifically, not enough of it) but there’s been very little negative feedback about the quality of what’s been coming out of the region over the past few years, and that was borne out here. This was white Burgundy’s best performance for several years.
Naturally ‘tighter’ vintages like 2012 seem to be coming round nicely, while 2014 looks to be something of a star in the making for whites. If they’re still available, we’d expect more of these wines to be filling up the Gold and Silver medal areas of this competition for the next couple of years.
And for all the talk of crazy prices, it was heartening to see three good medals awarded to wines under £10.
FROM THE TASTING TEAMS
‘These were lovely wines, with really good value for money as well. Even under £10. There was a really nice, measured use of oak. They all had that in common.’ Laura Rhys MS, team leader
‘People are moving away from crisp Chablis-style Chardonnays and into bigger, richer, more oxidative styles. To do that properly you need to have a good range of wines on offer. It can’t all be about the £120 bottles.’ Ian Howard, The White Hart Inn at Lydgate
‘All of them were very interesting. Even the lower price ranges showed well for me. Below £15 they really over-delivered.’ Tamas Czinki, Northcote
‘There was good typicity here all the way through. There is a consumer who comes in and knows what he likes, what he looks for in Burgundy – generally those people are more traditional consumers who prefer the richer more oxidative styles.’ Emily Bonsor, consultant sommelier