2011 white Burgundy has a lot to recommend it. There’s freshness, life and zest here, and typicity too. Olivier Lamy, at the helm at St Aubin’s consistent over-achiever Hubert Lamy, was happy with the vintage. Despite the early harvest, the whites retained their acidity because of the cool July. Olivier sees lots of freshness and life in the wines and these are great value bets as ever. His St Aubin Les Frionnes has a roundness and delicacy common to Chassagne-Montrachet and the Clos de la Chantenière is a dead ringer for serious Puligny in the appellation next door.

Lay & Wheeler’s tasting of growers’ Burgundy 2011 last week showed a set of forward, fresh and elegant white wines and a vibrant, sappy bunch of reds. Overall they reflected complex terroir of this fascinating part of the world very nicely. On the basis of the thirty-odd growers represented at the tasting generally it seems a vintage worth considering for early and medium term drinking.

I’ve been a fan of Jean-Marc Brocard’s Chablis for some time. It’s usually good value and delivers appetizing, moreish Chablis in a pretty classical style. What’s more increasingly production here is being converted to bio-dynamic methods and long term they are looking for all their vineyards to be tended along those lines. For those with a keen eye, Brocard’s bio-dynamic wines are identified by miniature ladybirds and half-moons on the label as in the bottle of Vaulorent above. I recently had the chance to taste wines from the 2009 vintage which has lovely forward and ripe qualities, probably slightly atypical for Chablis, but nevertheless there is still good balancing acid and wonderful minerality as you would expect. Two 2010’s were also tasted under the less expensive Domaine St Claire label and looked pretty good too.

It’s been impossible to avoid 2009 Burgundy what with all the glossy en primeur offers dropping through the letter box and a series of daily tastings put on by merchants at venues across London. In a nutshell, the reds 2009s are hailed as excellent, reminiscent of 1999, though maybe not quite up to the majesty of 2005. The whites, described as better than expected, are not seen as long-lived but are forward and enjoyable.