From The Wine Conversation with Sarah Kemp (wine-conversation.com):
In our latest 10-Minute Masterclass (actually 12 minutes this month, as there was just too much great information to leave out), Jasper Morris MW, author of “Inside Burgundy,” looks at Making White Burgundy. There are conferences about Pinot Noir, he notes, but White Burgundy isn’t talked about enough.
Jasper begins by looking at the main grapes, Chardonnay and Aligoté, and relates how Aligoté used to struggle to ripen, but not any more, as he moves on to the ways producers are modifying viticulture to respond to climate change.
Picking dates are really vital, he explains: “You can test your grapes one day and discover they are 11.5% alc and say that will be alright for a week, but you come back five days later and they’ve shot up to 14% alc already – so you’ve really got to pay a lot of attention.”
Most people press whole bunches, but Jasper favours the method where the grapes are crushed before they press them: “The advantage of that is that you get the juice mixing in with the skin more than if you don’t crush them,” he says. “I’m convinced that Chardonay is not the ballerina grape that Pinot Noir is. I think it is out there on the rugby field getting deep down and dirty, and you ought to make the wine in that way”.
Jasper then examines the role of fermentation vessels, and reveals that many producers are now tending to use larger barrels so there is less wood effect. Producers used not to worry too much about the time and temperature of the fermentation, but today many are looking for shorter fermentations, as long fermentations were thought to be one of the reasons there was premature oxidation in the wines.
When to bottle and which closure to use? Classic White Burgundy needs longer in barrel, Jasper states, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different closures. He concludes by lamenting that wines are now made to be drunk younger, and advises, “If you have a chance, do drink a 25-35-year-old, even a 50-year-old White Burgundy. Properly stored, it’s so magical.”
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