Rare Wine Dinner: 2003 Burgundy Grand Crus, Twenty-Years On

with special guest:Mr. Burghound Allen Meadows & Mrs. Burghound Erica Meadows

2003 offered something of a prequel to the now frequent hot vintages that have become more the norm than the exception. At the time though the 2003 growing season was unprecedented. Vignerons looked back to years like 1947 to find parallels. A wet finish to 2002 provided a useful reserve of water, spring frost reduced the potential crop in some locations. Flowering was early and good, and summer was marked by heatwaves, and harvest began in mid-August, and Vignerons faced difficult decisions as sugars rose, acidities fell and phenolic development trailed. Pick early for freshness, pick later for phenolics, acidify or not, and how to adapt extraction and maturation?

As always there were successes. Checking in on 2003 at a horizontal tasting dinner in 2018, Linden found a lot to like. ‘Stylistically it can confound the Burgundy enthusiast who is usually looking for more delicacy. As someone commented at the dinner, this is a ‘Wanchai’ vintage. Its hedonistic for sure, though not lacking in complexity I think. Most of all it offers a great deal of appeal for current drinking.’

At the 20-year mark, it is time to check in on the top longer-term 2003 wines, to understand this vintage at its best. We focus exclusively at this small-scale dinner on grand crus from top estates, as Allen Meadows explains the vintage, its interplay with the climats we explore this evening. As the future looks more and more like 2003, this is a landmark vintage for the Burgundy enthusiast to understand.