Vintage 2021 at Domaine des Hospices de Beaune:
small harvest, great classic. Precision and fidelity to terroirs.

Review and analysis of the 2021 vintage by Albert Bichot

The 2021 vintage is later than its predecessors...in other words, a return to basics and to history, with harvesting at the end of September. The year is nevertheless marked by an unprecedented episode of frost at the beginning of April, which will result in one of the smallest harvests in Burgundy's history and therefore at the Hospices de Beaune as well.

Following our tastings of the 50 Hospices de Beaune vintages with Ludivine Griveau before the auction, we are delighted to note that this 2021 vintage offers a very fine representation of terroir expression, with great homogeneity in all the wines presented by Hospices de Beaune.

Above all, we find the typicity of our great Burgundy grape varieties, which are well "in their terroirs". The key words for us will be pleasure, rarity, relief after a vintage of struggle both in the vineyard and in the cellar. It's both a winemaker's AND an oenologist's vintage, which we'll have immense pleasure in nurturing in our cellars.

White wines: brilliance, purity, balance, intensity and authenticity.
Red wines: finesse, fidelity to terroirs, elegance, freshness, sapidity

Interview #2 - Vinifications and styles of Hospices de Beaune 2021 wines

VINIFICATION DES VINS BLANCS DES HOSPICES 2021

The use of a small 15hl press has enabled us to conserve the parcel identity of all the cuvées (17 in number). They will all be auctioned on November 21. This is very important to us, because this tool is a guarantee of quality, to work meticulously, with rigor, the small quantities given by the parcels this year. This means just as much work, in precision.

The vinifications have been very traditional, with the juice loaded with lees put into barrels, particularly beautiful this year. These lees will be very useful for filling the mid-palate, in the early stages but also during aging. It's a good bet on the ageing potential.

VINIFICATION DES VINS ROUGES DES HOSPICES 2021

I'm relieved, we've managed to continue this parcel-based work to which we'd become accustomed several years ago. We were able to work our vats with a light heart. We did a rather very long and rather very cold cold pre-fermentation maceration. Which is a bit the opposite of what I had originally planned. I had anticipated that the extraction would be quick, that the aromatics would be a little fragile... but in fact this aromatic richness kept coming out, endlessly! So we kept our juices well chilled, at around 8 degrees, for 6 to 9 days. Then we launched the fermentation process. The first vats are yeasted, then the cellar is naturally seeded for the other vats.

The alcoholic fermentations take place just like in the books! A very reasonable but regular rise in temperature, then very gentle falls in density linked to the consumption of sugars at the end. Finally, to stabilize the color, which was still fragile, and these tannins that were both so silky and dense, we finished with a few days of warm holding. On average, we devatted between 21 and 24 days of fermentation, which is quite classic, but with kinetics that were a little off in terms of phases

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND A VERY GOOD TECHNICAL TOOL TO REVEAL GREAT TERROIR NUANCES IN A MILLENNIUM 2021 COMPLEX, PRECISION AND BEAUTIFUL SUBSTANCES IN THE MATERIALS

I'm very happy with my 2 decades of experience, which put me at ease when tackling complicated vintages like 2021. The technical tools we have give us a great deal of leeway in terms of precision, in the fine analysis we make. One of the keys to 2021 is this component of scientific and technical analysis that we have, to then add a more intuitive, empirical component. This phase of observing what was happening in our vats, with a strong scientific foundation, allowed me to be in my comfort zone because everything else was turned upside down.

An estate like Hospices de Beaune has the luxury of being very well equipped.We have a team that responds very precisely and very quickly to everything I ask. It's incredibly easy! And our equipment is perfect, with temperature-controlled vats of different volumes to refine the plot. This will play a role in the final quality. The large, well-equipped estates will have a slightly different reading of this vintage.

STYLE AND NUANCES OF THE WHITE WINES OF THE HOSPICES 2021

2021 re-roots us in Burgundy in both colors.

For the Chardonnays, we already have the pretty bitters characteristic of grapes ripe just right, neither too much nor too little. We have substance, awell-chiseled roundness on a very powerful aromatic: pear, white peach, with a background marked by a pretty reduction a little fennel, brought by the lees we talked about earlier, which are very dense and on which I'm banking a lot to nourish the wine during aging.

STYLE AND NUANCES OF THE WINES OF LES ROUGES DES HOSPICES 2021

Everyone is right where they belong! We're back to deep ruby and cherry colors, less purplish and black than in previous years. I can't fail to come back and mention this aromatic intensity. The noses are very pleasant, greedy and complex. The terroirs are there: more elegance on the Volnays, the Avaux sector is very solid, the Pommards are well anchored in their clays... but we have this suppleness of tannins which is a marker of the vintage. We're certainly going to talk about finesse this year. But finesse is often an overused word in Burgundy, associated with years that are a little thin or flabby. Not so this year! In 2021 we have finesse and substance. It's not powerful like the solar vintages we've seen recently, which are tannic in power. In 2021 we're tannic in density, so in elegance, so in Pinot Noir. This is the common base of the vintage, with then parcel and terroir identities expressing themselves. It's a promising millésime that I want to defend! We've been through a bit all year, but the Pinot Noir has rewarded us.

Interview #1 - Ludivine Griveau's first assessment of the 2021 vintage

it all began with a big heat wave at the end of March, with an explosion of vegetation, both vines and other plants. Followed by a spring frost, but with winter intensity: 3 nights at -6 / -7 degrees. A lot of damage to the Chardonnays, which were the most advanced. The Pinot Noir was less advanced. A huge war of nerves began. Spring and early summer were very wet, with unseasonably cool temperatures, but with lulls in the weather and windows of respite. This was fortunate, as growth was very explosive, as if the vines were in the starting-blocks after the frost and needed to free themselves. Then everything came together quite nicely, with flowering taking place in very good conditions, which saved some of the fruit that was harvested today. But during the summer, sanitary pressure is both important and particular. We often think of a milidou vintage, or an oidium vintage, and this year we had both! Fortunately, the end of summer was clement, with a very fine month of September - as is often the case in Burgundy - which saved the vintage. A very Burgundian vintage indeed.

How do you combat this sanitary pressure, in your work in the vineyard?
First of all our treatments, without synthetic chemical inputs, so organic type even if we can't claim that because we're not certified. In other words, copper and sulfur, applied at least once a week. Then there are all the prophylactic measures: aerating the vegetation, keeping the rods clear, trimming high enough to keep the fruit area clear so that the sun and wind can help fight disease. So it's a real technical job to steer the vines in the directions we want them to go, so that diseases express themselves as little as possible.

2021: a late vintage... but not so late compared to a longer average! What are the criteria for choosing harvest date and ripeness?
As usual, we took several samples from the vines to check our ripeness. This year, we've added a special check on sanitary conditions, a key component of the 2021 vintage. We have to find a compromise between the weather, the current or future state of health, and the level of ripeness. It's been a long time since we've had to weigh up all the parameters in order to make a decision. It's not easy, as the weather is uncertain and the state of health changes every morning. However, choosing Sept. 17 for the start of the harvest was the best compromise for us in terms of these 3 parameters. The first analyses confirm our choice, as do the first juice tastings.

In what order did you harvest?
At first the southernmost parcel: Pouilly Fuissé but at the same time as the Volnay 1er Cru Santenots, and also a still early sector of Beaune, around Les Avaux. Then everything came together, with a short break when it rained heavily on September 19/20, even though we harvested in the afternoons. Then we finished, because it was time to go and pick our grapes. The harvest was over, so it was the right time.

If we talk about the parameters: acidity, alcohol, sugar..
I'm pretty reassured. The ripeness of the polyphenols (tannins, skins) wasn't moving anymore, the pips are nicely brown. Sugars are good (230 to 240 g/l). Probable degree between 12 and 12.4 in both white and red.

How do you feel about the vinifications?
Oenology in the noblest sense is going to come into its own! We're going to have to dissect our tasting perceptions, and intervene if need be on the tanks: maybe yeast, draw a little less and work by pumping over, heat not too much or on the contrary a little more... We're really at the very beginning, it's still hard to say. We want to take our time and ask ourselves the right oenological questions.

Taking the time... you can see it on the sorting tables, the work is very meticulous, haute couture..it's a choice?
I'm delighted you're observing this. Yes, it's a choice, an instruction given to the teams and to rely on their agility. Rigor and precision will be key factors in the vintage: putting healthy, ripe grapes into our vats. Obviously not with the levels of ripeness we've seen in recent years, but healthy and ripe enough to make pretty wines.

The yields... the disappointment?
Big cold shower! I've never experienced such low yields. We'll have to wait for the juice yields. Without doubt one of the smallest harvests of the Domaine, and of Burgundy.

Photo gallery - Hospices de Beaune vintage 2021