I’ve loved the 2009 red Burgundies since the first time I tasted them from barrel in November of that year. With each additional tasting from barrel and now, after many have been bottled, my enthusiasm for them has just increased. It’s a glorious vintage for reds because the tannins and sugars ripened simultaneously. The grapes had supple and suave tannins without high sugars. Hence the wines are plush but without high alcohols.
I wish I could explain why–what precise combination of weather allows the tannins to ripened without the sugars going through the roof. I think that occurs when the grapes ripen precisely at the end of the growing season. If it’s too hot–as is often in California–the sugars are “ripe,” but the tannins are not and winemakers need to wait to achieve supple tannins. The result is a plush wine with high alcohol because the sugars continued to rise while the winemaker waits for the tannins to
“ripen.” If it’s too cool–as is often the case in Burgundy–the tannins are hard and the wines angular.
The ‘09 reds are marvelous, seductively easy to taste, which prompts the question, will they develop with age? Who really knows. I’m betting–and it is always a bit of a gamble–that they will and am putting a bunch in my cellar. (I will report back in a decade or so.)
Many Burgundian producers with whom I’ve spoken think the vintage is less consistent than the ‘05s. That may be the case, but there are precious few ‘05 red Burgundies still available on retailers’ shelves, so it’s really an academic question. By all means, if you can still find ‘05 reds from producers you like, snap them up. But if you can’t, I would buy as many of the ‘09 reds as your banker will allow. There will be plenty of bargains at the lower end of the prestige scale because the extra ripeness helps those sites even more so look for village and even regional wines, such as, Côtes de Nuits Villages or even, Bourgogne Rouge, from producers you like.
The potential inconsistency for ‘09 reds can be explained, paradoxically, by the perfect weather at harvest. Growers could wait, and wait, and wait to harvest. Those who did, wound up with unbalanced wines replete with overripe flavors. Not surprisingly, Maison Louis Latour, a trusted négociant whose reds are often under appreciated, did not. They made a terrific line up of wines in 2009.
Latour has subtly changed the style of their reds starting with the 1999 vintage to achieve slightly more extraction and concentration. Those who have not sampled Latour’s reds over the last few vintages need to taste their 2009s. Having just tasted through a range of them, which are currently available at retail, I can happily report they are extraordinary–and well priced, at least for Burgundy–at every level.
Latour’s 2009 Marsannay could be the bargain of the vintage at less than $20 a bottle. It conveys real Burgundian (that is, not just fruit) character with surprising depth and length for this lowly village wine. It’s hard to resist now. Pricier, but still good value, is their Volnay En Chevret ($50), a premier cru that shows all of allure and polish of Volnay and the class of a premier cru.
Moving up the ladder, is Corton Clos du Roi ($90), from perhaps the best part of the Corton vineyard (after all, do you think the King would select the second best plot). Latour rarely bottles this Grand Cru separately, opting to include it with their proprietary Grand Cru, Corton 
Grancey. The 2009 is simply stunning, with ripeness, suave tannins, great length and balance. It’s hard to know which is better, the Corton Clos du Roi or the Corton Grancey ($90). With less primary fruit at this stage than the Clos du Roi, the Grancey, a blend of Grand Cru sites, delivers slightly more exotic earthy notes. It, too, has the ripeness and polish of the vintage. Just last week, I had a bottle of the 1985 Corton Grancey, a highly acclaimed vintage that, like the 09s, was easy to taste from the beginning and also raised the question of age-ability. Well, the 1985 Grancey has developed marvelously and was one of the best red Burgundies I’ve ever had, so I suspect the 09 reds will do just fine.
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