Burgundy 2023: The State of Play

BY NEAL MARTIN | JANUARY 17, 2025

Two years ago, I wrote that in order to take the pressure off demand for Burgundy—and by that, I refer to the Côte d’Or specifically—there would need to be three consecutive plentiful vintages. That would erode the fanaticism that fuels demand and allow all sides to catch their breath and take stock of the current economic climate, one in which there is less disposable income, higher interest rates and generally more prudence and hesitance.

Three plentiful vintages did not come to pass.

There were two.

Two thousand twenty-four will end up as one of the smallest yields in living memory, with some producers in the worst-affected appellations like Vosne-Romanée and Nuits Saint-Georges facing just 10% of a normal crop (though on average, according to Burgundy’s organizational body, the BIVB, there was a less dramatic 30% reduction across the region). This paints the bountiful 2023 vintage in a different light compared to 12 months ago. Previously, there was some anxiety about surplus supply, especially with what you might call “mid-tier” producers. Now, some consider 2023 a Godsend, allowing producers and merchants to even out allocations. Those producers that are financially able, and crucially, those with available storage in a region where that is certainly not a given, will withhold part of their 2023s and combine them with their 2024s next year. Jason Flint at Flint Wines, one of the UK’s major Burgundy importers, tells me that following successful pre-releases in December, they will slim down the number of domaines in their main January offer. At Flint Wines’ tasting in London this month, there were no producers from Côte Chalonnaise or Mâconnais present. Also absent were the two or three Côte d’Or producers whose prices tend to remain static after release. These will be sold from stock throughout the year. Like me, Flint opines that if 2024 had been a normal vintage, we would have seen more price reductions. We will never know what that might have been. Instead, most producers will hold prices level, though discussing the matter with several merchants (including Goedhuis Waddesdon and Justereini & Brooks), most cut their margins to price their 2023s slightly below 2022 levels. This was often done in collaboration with winemakers cutting their margins as well, mindful of the challenging market. A head buyer of a major UK merchant tells me that in their portfolio, around 40% of the wines are offered at 10-15% below last year’s price, just under 10% are priced higher, and the remainder are the same as the 2022s.

How this will play out in the market remains to be seen. A swath of offerings in the Côte d’Or are overpriced, not least after the diminished crop of 2021, when winemakers justified price hikes of up to 50% or 60% by shortage in supply. Be that as it may, the consequence of these increases is that mediocre wines end up on restaurant lists at ludicrous prices, to the point where—surely like many others—I browse the Burgundy section purely out of curiosity. Some restaurants now eschew Burgundy altogether, though many maintain certain producers’ wines as there is still a tidy profit to be made should a diner decide to blow the budget. Indeed, I heard of someone nonchalantly dropping over £20,000 recently. It’s the consumer’s prerogative to spend as they wish, and that money helps pay staff wages during quieter months. On the flip side, the younger generation is priced out of Burgundy. There are plenty of choices for quality Pinot Noir elsewhere: Hemel-en-Aarde, German Spätburgunder, Sonoma, New Zealand, Chile or even, God forbid, Essex.

Sadly, there is a cadre of winemakers in the Côte d’Or who see their wine as a luxury product, like a vinous Gucci bag or Rolex, a trinket for the wealthy. As such, these winemakers regard price as the sole measure of success, which creates an upward spiral of “keeping up with the Joneses.” Some are convinced that there is a conveyor below of buyers for their top wines, assuming that if one consumer rejects higher prices, there is another that will take their place. There is some truth in that, but there is also a ceiling. To quote the German proverb: Trees don’t grow to the sky. Two or three growers admitted they resented hiking up prices but felt they had no choice; competitors’ price escalation creates a perception of inferiority in lower-priced wines, unfairly casting them in a negative light. That’s the problem when wine becomes a Veblen good. On more than one occasion, I sat in a Beaune restaurant and watched customers ignore the raft of superb, well-priced wines and go directly to the “rare” section to overspend on a cult name. I also witnessed the disappointment that can ensue.

Other producers told me that they could not entertain price reductions because it would be perceived as a backward step or an admission that they had mispriced previous vintages. This is tantamount to discarding an economic lever whereby producers can control the market and maintain a steady flow through the distribution system to the consumer. Look at the consequences for Bordeaux. Burgundy might have convinced itself that it is immune to a similar fate. After all, quantities in Burgundy are far smaller, so it takes a much smaller uptick in demand or (as it might transpire) downturn in supply to lock prices at a higher level. Even so, that does not imply Burgundy will avoid long-term consequences, not to mention stoking accusations of avarice.

It is, of course, far more complicated than that. As I have written before, consider the Côte Chalonnaise winemaker who told me that he sells his Premier Crus for around 30 euros, only to see them sold in restaurants for 200 euros. Not in Singapore, New York or London…in Beaune.

The vineyards of Clos de Vougeot, redux edition.

Who is the party toiling in the vines every day? Who gambles with capricious Mother Nature or could lose everything in a single hailstorm or frost? How can the middleman justify creaming away more profit than the winemaker if wine is such an easy sell? If someone is willing to pay high prices, shouldn’t the winemaker pocket their fair share? I can empathize because as a published author, I make less money than either my publisher or distributor. Hey, at least Amazon doesn’t distribute Burgundy, at least not yet!

At the other end of the spectrum is the cluster of arrivistes who launch their portfolios at extraordinarily high prices. Why wait for demand and acclaim to justify higher prices if you can skip all that, pitch your wares at your desired price point and inveigle consumers that your wines are the best thing since sliced bread via ex-winery prices that will be uttered in the same breath as secondary market prices of Roumier and Rousseau. (Please note the crucial difference between ex-winery and secondary prices, as they are often conflated in debate. Both Roumier and Rousseau release wines at a fraction of their secondary prices.) No, all you need to do is launch your new name with a slick social media campaign to create a mirage of mystique and elusiveness, then sit back and watch consumers form an orderly queue for the latest cult.

Is that pulling the wool over peoples’ eyes? Or self-belief?

The only way to tell is to assess the wine in the glass, though of course, by dint of small quantities and refusal, producers avoid comparisons at all costs, lest they risk being labeled the emperor’s new clothes. Such is gullibility and the frantic quest to be ahead of the pack. During my trip, I discovered how one such cult producer had exaggerated their backstory to an almost comical degree, much to the chagrin of the names they dropped. That “brushing the shoulders of a famous winemaker and becoming a star” joke in my satirical introduction has a large kernel of truth. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who have worked a lifetime to build their name, borrowed money to invest in their vines, honed their craft, and endured the ups and downs on a journey that got them where they are. But if winemakers buy fruit at inflated prices because they can sell at inflated prices, then there is nothing to stop that from continuing.

So, with depleted volumes of 2024 incoming, expect prices to hold instead of falling. At the end of the day, the Côte d’Or remains a mecca despite its slightly tarnished image. It is no longer angelic or beyond reproach. Everyone is human. Everyone has a family to feed. Some, certainly not the majority, have egos. Winemakers recognize the need to show restraint and sympathy towards true Burgundy-lovers rather than speculators. Some privately lament that their wines are reduced to mere investment vehicles, whilst others covet that status as justification for the premium charged. Then again, the tumbleweed that rolls through empty auction rooms for overpriced domaines is not a good look. That has repercussions, proof that there is little appetite for such wines on the secondary market, implying that buyers who forked out inflated sums hoping for a tidy return got what they deserved. As Bordeaux has discovered to its detriment, though selling wines to the most affluent might enhance the region’s image, such consumers tend not to hesitate when they get a whiff of a bad buy, or when economic winds blow in a different direction. Demand is less “sticky.” That is what happened to a small number of growers in the Côte d’Or. The 2024 vintage will give those producers an opportunity to restore some of the elusiveness that 2022 and 2023 eroded, even though that is not necessarily beneficial in the long term.

In the meantime, if you cannot afford the top names, there are plenty of others included in my report that are less expensive and offer just as much sensory pleasure. Look to Marsannay, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, Maranges, the Hautes-Côtes or far afield to the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais. Maybe those wines won’t get your endorphins going like a bottle of DRC or Leroy, but that depends on whether you derive pleasure from label or liquid. One could argue that Burgundy caters to both. You choose what you drink. Nobody forces you.

We will soon learn how successful the January Burgundy campaign will be. Certainly, the various venues around the city have thronged with prospective buyers. Speaking to these prospects, several confess to being inured to current prices, accepting that with allocations of 2024 inevitably rationed or canceled, they are still prepared to buy their favorite producers. The head buyer at Goedhuis Waddesdon expressed cautious optimism that the softening of prices over recent months has finally reached an equilibrium, which means that now might be a good time to buy. In the coming months, it will become clear whether the threats to impose import tariffs in the United States were real or a bluff. I think the former, which is why importers are shipping as much wine to the States as possible right now. This would also explain the general unease with respect to this vital market for Burgundy.

As I articulated in my main report, the quality of 2023 is there. That is no longer sufficient to guarantee demand. Now that the speculative aspect has receded, price is a far more important part of the buying decision process. Consumers see prices for what they are, not the profit producers might make. The nascent 2024 vintage has become a critical part of the 2023 campaign. Producers, merchants and consumers know what is coming.

How will they react?

We will see imminently.

© 2025, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or redistributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright,but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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