Burgundy’s 2024 Vintage Survived One of Its Harshest Growing Seasons in Years

Burgundy’s 2024 vintage brought one of the hardest growing seasons the region has faced in recent years, with cold weather, heavy rain, downy mildew and, in Chablis, frost sharply reducing yields, especially for Pinot Noir. Yet early assessments from producers and tastings of unfinished wines point to a mixed but often encouraging outcome: red wines with bright fruit, modest alcohol and lighter structure, and white wines that many growers consider a clear success.

After two generous harvests in 2022 and 2023, many estates entered 2024 expecting a more difficult year. The biggest problems arrived early. Flowering took place under cool, cloudy and wet conditions, particularly in the Côte de Nuits and Chablis. That weather disrupted fruit set and led to coulure and millerandage, leaving some bunches poorly formed and others with uneven berry size. In several areas, clusters did not close fully, exposing stems and increasing the vine’s vulnerability through the season.

Growers say the pressure from mildew was constant. Rainfall during spring and summer reached about twice the normal level, forcing repeated vineyard treatments and making it hard to get into the rows at the right moments. Xavier Monnot, who runs his family estate in Meursault, called 2024 the hardest vintage of his three decades as a winegrower. He said the estate had to perform about twice as many treatments as in a normal year while also managing rapid vine growth and heavy weed pressure.

The season was especially punishing for Pinot Noir. In addition to the small crop, many producers reported fruit with lower potential alcohol, delicate skins and stems that had not ripened well. Some estates made small adjustments in the cellar, including modest chaptalization, to preserve balance and allow enough time for maceration. Winemakers also changed extraction methods to avoid pulling harsh or green tannins from fruit that did not have the depth or ripeness of a more generous year.

Dimitri Bazas, winemaker at Champy, compared 2024 with 2016 and 2021, two other challenging red-wine years in Burgundy. He said producers now have more experience handling fragile fruit and were better able to control extraction than they had been in those earlier vintages.

That experience may prove decisive in the final quality of the wines. Producers and merchants across the region say the 2024 reds show fresh red fruit, lively acidity and softer frames than in warmer years. Several compared them to 2021 because of their low alcohol and energy, but they noted a key difference: the 2021 reds often showed savory, herbal notes, while the 2024s lean more clearly toward pure fruit.

The growing conditions were not uniform across Burgundy. The farther north the flowering moved, the more severe the weather’s impact became. Gevrey-Chambertin and Chablis were among the hardest-hit areas. Growers there reported yields of only 20% to 25% of a normal crop in some cases. Vineyard losses came not only from poor flowering and mildew, but also from strict sorting at harvest, as producers removed fruit that had not ripened well enough to keep.

By contrast, vineyards around Corton appear to have performed better than many sites farther north, and Chardonnay generally handled the season better than Pinot Noir. Because Chardonnay tends to flower earlier and much of it is planted in the Côte de Beaune, the variety avoided part of the worst weather during a critical stage of development. Some growers said mildew also proved less damaging on Chardonnay than on Pinot. As a result, white-wine yields in several areas were near normal or only slightly below average.

That pattern did not hold everywhere. Chablis suffered a damaging frost event on May 1. Véronique Drouhin said roughly 4,500 acres, mostly premier cru and grand cru vineyards, were affected. Even so, producers say August changed the trajectory of the season. After months of rain and disease pressure, warmer and drier weather in July and August helped dry out mildew and allowed the fruit to ripen more fully before harvest.

Several winemakers said that without the low yields, full ripening would have been difficult. Jean-Charles Thomas, head winemaker at Louis Latour, said the crop was painfully small, but added that the reduced volume also helped the vines bring the remaining fruit to maturity. Pierre Meurgey, of the Meurgey négociant house, said the estate looked at its vineyards at the end of July and saw very little fruit left, but the favorable end of the season allowed the team to wait for a complete ripening cycle. He described the wines as showing pure fruit, no overripe aromas, low alcohol and sound phenolic maturity.

In the cellar, many of Burgundy’s larger and smaller producers responded in similar ways. The main goal for reds was to protect fruit and finesse rather than force structure. Jérôme Flous, winemaker at Domaine Faiveley, said one of the hardest decisions was whether to push extraction to compensate for light color or to accept the character of the vintage. He chose a lighter hand because the skins had thickness but the tannins were not fully ripe.

At Albert Bichot, technical director Matthieu Mangeneot said the estate lowered temperatures during maceration and relied more on pump-overs than punch-downs, trying to reach the limit of extraction without bringing in bitterness or green notes. At Louis Latour, Thomas said macerations typically lasted two to three weeks, but after about 15 days there was little to gain and more risk of pulling unwanted compounds.

Aging choices were also adjusted. Flous said élevage was critical in 2024 because the wines needed time to gain precision and aromatic definition. Some estates limited rackings to preserve delicate fruit and keep the wines in contact with their lees for added texture. Others reduced or avoided new oak, preferring barrels from the 2023 or 2022 vintages. Bichot shortened barrel aging for its reds to 12 months from 14 months and lowered the share of new oak to 25% from 30%. At Louis Jadot, technical director Frédéric Barnier said larger casks, or foudres, helped preserve fruit purity in a year when standard 228-liter Burgundy barrels could have marked the wines too strongly.

If the reds required delicate handling, the whites gave producers more reason for optimism from the start. Early tastings suggest that Chardonnay from the 2024 vintage combines strong acidity with balance and clear site expression. Flous said the white wines at Faiveley rank among the best he has made there since joining the estate in 2007, comparing the style to 2014 with a touch of 2017. Corton-Charlemagne, in particular, is being cited by growers as a standout appellation.

The contrast between red and white is one of the defining features of the year. Burgundy’s 2024 reds are not being described as powerful or concentrated in the style of a warm, dry harvest. Instead, producers say they are open, expressive and clearly marked by place, with a visible ladder from regional wines to village, premier cru and grand cru bottlings. Many expect them to give pleasure relatively early, even if the best examples may develop further with time.

For white Burgundy, expectations are higher. Growers say the wines carry the tension and brightness that often come from cooler seasons, but without the severe losses that devastated some earlier vintages. In a region where weather risk has become a permanent part of the job, many producers say 2024 showed how much vineyard work and cellar technique have evolved. Monnot said that if a season like this had arrived when he began in the 1990s, Burgundy would not have produced wines of the same quality.