JMIB February 2024 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Subscribers,

The seasons move on, and though there is very much a wintry feel in the air here in Burgundy, spring will soon be with us and another growing season. We have had adequate supply of water, thank goodness, through the winter months, but have not enjoyed any sustained period of cold which has the double value, when we get it, of killing off bugs and giving the vines some proper rest before the sap starts to flow again.

I eventually completed my 2022 vintage notes, the biggest crop that we have delivered to date. No sooner was the Côte de Nuits put to bed than I hopped across for an energetic fortnight in Hong Kong with wine dinners every night and a series of other masterclasses and occasional lunches. Even a brisk couple of walks up to The Peak was not enough to keep the waistline in trim. I have done a little better since returning home to Burgundy, mixing plenty of exercise with catching up on overdue reports and planning the next rounds of tastings in the Beaujolais, Mâconnais and Côte Chalonnaise, along with trying out one or two “new” producers in the Côte d’Or.

Next up will be a quartet of reports on the 2021 vintage from producers who prefer to show their wines once they have been bottled, Olivier Lamy, Laurent Ponsot, Joseph Roty and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

Also in the pipeline are reports from some exceptional tastings held during my recent visit to Hong Kong, contributions from our contributors from Champagne (Steve Pritchard) and New Zealand (Jane Skilton MW) with a new member of the team to be unveiled in March!

We have now also pressed the button on a systems upgrade to our website, which will be implemented between now and the summer. You will not see any dramatic changes to presentation, but speed, reliability and ease of use for the database will all be significantly improved. More on this later, as we get close to implementation.

I wish you good health and happy drinking

Jasper