Last week in Burgundy was a revelation.
We expected wines of medium quality at best but we tasted some quite delicious Chardonnay’s and Pinot Noir’s. 2007 is not a “great” vintage like 2005 but the reds have a sweetness of fruit, a ripeness of tannin and a precision that make them one of the most attractive En Primeur vintages I have tasted in 26 years, whilst the whites are clearly very good.
I emailed a friend from Burgundy spreading the news only to be greeted by “I have just seen a couple of pigs flying past my window” in response. So I realise we are going to be faced with a certain scepticism from our customers. But I can assure you if it is simply a question of quality 2007 is a vintage to buy.
Sadly I am not so positive about prices. I am afraid many of the growers simply don’t appreciate the seriousness of the financial situation. Many of them are convinced that Barack Obama has truly miraculous powers and all it needed was for him to win the election and the credit crunch would be over and stock markets soaring once more. I fear they are misguided. Furthermore the preoccupation with the price of the neighbour’s wines has sadly ceased just to be a Bordeaux problem and wherever we went there were mutterings about needing to increase prices to be in line with such and such Domaine.
Hopefully over the next two months sanity will prevail, prices will be reasonable and a certain stability will return to the financial markets as there really are some wines that are not to be missed.