Wine with Leslie: What will happen to the price of wine in the coming years?
Pic: iStock
Are Burgundy’s prices going to fall? Well, that is what the BIVB (Burgundy Wine Board) announced this month following a bumper 2023 crop. We shall wait and see.
All wine prices rose post-pandemic due to increased costs for everything from labour to packaging. Burgundy prices were already high but now they are becoming stratospheric.
The crop in 2023 was 190 million litres, a record harvest, and 2022 was similarly large following a poor 2019, 2020 and frost-affected 2021.
These two large vintages should refill cellars and reverse some of the price increases (e.g. for bulk wine prices). However, in 30 years of paying attention to Burgundy prices, I don’t ever remember seeing a wine drop in price.
I predict price stabilisation for a couple of years, that’s all. With luck, we will see some sub-€25 AOC Bourgogne, Haute-Côtes and Coteaux Bourguignons in our supermarkets.
I tasted the 2022 range from the one Burgundy vigneron much of Ireland has come to know and love, Róisín Curley MW. Ró was happy with 2022, but she did not make as much as she would have liked.
She has two Aligoté this year including a Bouzeron — both are tangy, elegant and fresh. She also has a Fleurie (her first I think) which already has silky red fruits, but will benefit from a year or two in a bottle.
Her Bourgogne Rouge is also worth seeking out, layered and textured with creamy red fruits and, dare I say, profundity.
Two Burgundy’s under €50 below and one under €30 below, sadly finding any decent Burgundy under €30 these days is rare. The Giboulot is the prize so head to MacCurtain Wine Cellar before he runs out.
Giboulot is a legend, especially since he overturned a conviction for refusing to spray pesticides on his biodynamic vineyards in 2014.
All Róisín’s wines are worth seeking out but be quick as her 2022s are in short supply. Aligoté, the other white Burgundy grape, is having a resurgence and Róisín’s take is poised and delicious. Perfumed but taut, with cream-edged white fruits on the mid-palate, herbal and textured with brisk acidity, fine length and complexity.
This has jumped from €22 since I last featured it in 2022. The Hautes-Côtes of Beaune and Nuits are cooler than the Côtes d’Or but can offer great value these days thanks to warmer vintages and more investment. Bright red fruit aromas and flavours with light spice touches — lively and pleasing pomegranate and red currant flavours, textured and tangy and worth its price.
The 2018 vintage is just €46 in MacCurtain St. but newer vintages will cost more. Such is the way with Burgundy prices these days. Organic pioneers (1970’s) and Biodynamic since 1996. Deliciously pure red fruit flavours with earthy tones mixed with candied rose-petals and black cherries. Gorgeous!
Before the rise of the current dictatorship Dublin used to be full of young Venezuelans and we would sometimes host language students from that beautiful country. We adored them and they always brought delicious, richly flavoured, rum.
Diplomático is one of the few Venezuelan rums in Ireland and it is perfect for sipping or for Daiquiris or Mojitos. Dark gold in colour, aromas of vanilla, tangerine peel and butter toffees, smooth and warming on the palate with a caramel and spice finish.
