Grower-negociants are nothing to sniff at

I SPENT a week in Burgundy earlier this month to look at the 2012s now that they are safely in barrel. Weather conditions during the growing season had given rise to concerns regarding the quality of the vintage. April, May and June had been miserable, cold and wet, raising the threat of disease, particularly mildew and oidium. There had also been the hail storms mainly in the Cote de Beaune

. The Cote de Nuits had largely survived unscathed. However t…