It is January, which means one thing for the wine calendar: Burgundy en primeur.

As a result, we decided to welcome Jasper Morris to The Premier Cru. Jasper has established himself as the leading Burgundy wine critic, having previously imported many of the top domaines to the UK. More recently he wrote “Inside Burgundy” an in-depth guide to the wine region, which has developed into an online subscription platform.

There was so much we wanted to ask Jasper that we decided to split our conversation into two parts. During part 1 this week, we discuss:

• How Jasper became Burgundy’s leading wine critic
• Weather conditions that shaped the 2023 vintage
• Which villages and producers performed particularly well
• Whether buying en primeur is worth it

Follow ⁠@The_Premier_Cru⁠ on socials to keep up to date with future episodes and behind the scenes snippets.

We welcome Walter Speller to The Premier Cru. Walter has built a brilliant career as a wine writer, specialising in Italian wine and contributing to Jancis Robinson's purple pages.

Walter recently invited us to the Benvenuto Brunello tasting, to try the 2020 vintage that is being released to market in January 2025. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to:

• Introduce you to Brunello as a wine region
• Discuss the 2020 vintage and resulting wines
• Assess the trends shaping Brunello, including single-vineyard wines

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We welcome Patrick McGrath to The Premier Cru. Patrick has had an amazing career in the wine trade, becoming a Master of Wine in 1993 and the CEO of Hatch Mansfield.

More recently he has also founded Domaine Evremond in collaboration with the Taittinger family. It represents the first attempt by a famous champagne house to produce wine in Britain. The project began in 2015 and their first non-vintage sparkling wine will be released to market in Spring 2025. Given the anticipation ahead of the release, we got the opportunity to try the wine and provide a preview!

On the episode we discuss:

• How Domaine Evremond was founded
• Why the Taittinger family wanted to produce wine in Britain
• How they approached making their first wine
• How Domaine Evremond fits into the British wine landscape
• How Patrick became an MW

Follow ⁠@The_Premier_Cru⁠ on socials to keep up to date with future episodes and behind the scenes snippets.