While 2024 presented significant challenges in the vineyard with a wet growing season, mildew pressure, and sharply reduced yields, critics have been unanimous on one thing: these vintage rewards careful selection and offers some truly compelling wines. Importantly, the narrative isn’t about uniform greatness but about distinctive quality, character and drinking pleasure, especially among the whites and well-managed reds.
Elegant, Expressive Whites Take Center Stage
Many commentators agree that Burgundy ’s white wines are the standout of the vintage, showing freshness, energy and precision that make them both enticing now and promising with short-term cellaring.
- Jasper Morris describes the 2024 whites as “relatively homogenous” with classically defined citrus, fresh apple and “rapier-like acidity,” characteristics that point to enjoyable early drinking and elegant expression.
- Charles Curtis terms them “precise and salty” with good freshness and vibrancy, underscoring the vintage’s distinct personality for whites despite its scarcity.
- These wines recall a more traditional Burgundian style “less tropical, more minerally” which many enthusiasts find especially appealing.
In short: critics see 2024 as one of the most exciting vintages for white, Burgundy in recent memory, with many wines offering bright fruit, clarity of terroir and refreshing acidity.
Reds: Charming, Perfumed, and Stylish
Reds in 2024 are generally lighter in body than in recent warm vintages but that isn’t a detriment to quality when taken in context.
- Neal Martin celebrates wines that “resolutely reside in the red side of the fruit spectrum,” with notes of strawberry, cranberry, pomegranate, and elegant aromatics that showcase Pinot Noir’s finesse.
- Jasper Morris notes that while heavier, powerful reds are rare, there are many aromatic, refined examples that express perfumed charm and clarity of fruit.
In short: the reds of 2024 are often lighter and more delicate, but rewards lie in their finesse, perfume, and balance, particularly at village and select premier cru levels.
