2014 Albert Bichot Vire-Clesse 750 ml

Cannons Over Burgundy: Burgundy’s 2014 Great Whites

While the 2014 white Burgundies are absolutely stunning, combining the juiciness of 2009 and mineral cut of 2010, growers’ hopes of a balance-sheet bonanza were shattered when a flash storm ravaged the limestone hillsides in late June.

Chez Albert Bichot, flowering came early in 2014 after an unseasonably warm spring. When the weather remained dry and warm through the beginning of June, the mood turned buoyant; Burgundy hadn’t enjoyed such a beautiful and regular fruit set since 2009. But beginning on June 23rd, growers were glued to la meteo, paying close attention to the formation of a troubling low front.

The risk of hail is a way of life in Burgundy. Years ago, while traipsing the ruelles of Beaune, we discovered reprints of old black and white postcards from the early 1900s, showing vignerons sending rockets up into the clouds to try to disperse the potential hail. Their modern equivalents were put into place on June 26, 2014, as growers still smarting from the hail that ravaged the Côte de Beaune in 2013 prepared for the worst.

The modern hail “cannons” aimed to seed the clouds with silver iodide and copper acetylacetone, designed to somehow change the hail to rain. But for reasons that remain unexplained — some have suggested that the cannons were facing west, not east, as incongruous as that may sound — when the black clouds blew over Burgundy on June 28th, the cannons proved ineffectual. In just a few minutes, “machine gun” hail pelted the vines. The worst-hit areas were Pommard, Meursault, and Puligny-Montrachet, where up to 80% of the harvest was destroyed in 180 seconds!

While that small quadrant of the Côte de Beaune bore the brunt of that devastating hail, the storm heralded a shift in the growing season for the entire region, with rain and cool weather dominating throughout July and August. September, however, was one of the most beautiful in memory. It’s often said in Burgundy that vintages are made or lost in the last weeks before harvest. Such was the case in September 2014, as warm and sunny days, cool nights, and light northerly winds coaxed Chardonnay clusters to a remarkable level of maturity, resulting in white Burgundies of great juiciness, balance, and class.

At harvest, we were told, the berries were small and thick-skinned, loaded with sugar, yet infused with terrific acid backbone. The ratio of skin-to-juice was as high as in 2008. And nowhere was the harvest more promising than in the village of Viré.

Viré was first planted to grapes in the 1500s by the monks of Cluny. The men of the cloth may have been as well-versed in Chardonnay as they were in scripture. As this gorgeous effort shows, the monks of the vines have a worthy heir in Albert Bichot, the International Wine Challenge’s White Winemaker of the Year and visionary behind one of Wine & Spirits Magazine’s Top 100 Wineries in the World.

The 2014 Albert Bichot Viré-Clessé is brilliant golden-green to the rim, infused with mouthwatering aromas of apple, pear, anise, and orchard pit. Rich, juicy, and weighty, with a luscious, seemingly sweet (even though the wine is BONE-dry!) core of poached apple and pear, finishing with great tension and bracing acidity. Delicious now, but those who lay this one down for another 2-3 years will be well rewarded.

$30 on release. Still one of the steals of the vintage at just $18.99 today. The last pallet headed stateside just hit port. NO dawdling.