A preview of the 2001 vintage

How heart-rending to hear one of Burgundy's growers fretting that "we are not eating much foie gras these days". What's good news for the goose is not so great for the burgundian grower, who, having given chardonnay and pinot noir to the world, is finding stiffer competition boomeranging its way back from the New World.

As January is when an increasing number of London merchants offer the new burgundies, this is a good time for a preview of the 2001 vintage.

Just as Burgundy's producers tend to divide into pinot noir and chardonnay specialists, vintages tend to favour reds or whites. 1995 and 1996 were superior white wine years, followed by a trio of better reds, culminating in the exceptional vintage of 1999, whereupon the pendulum swung back to whites in 2000. And 2001? On the evidence so far, there are some fine pinot noirs, but a lean tendency has left too many reds with insufficient flesh for the long haul in bottle. Whites are mixed, too, but where growers have successfully combined fresh acidity with richness and flavour there are some fine minerally styles to redress the collector's perennial imbalance of red over white.

Even the cash-strapped can take heart, because a handful of 2001 white burgundies are well worth snapping up for reasonably priced drinking over the next couple of years. Chief among these, by the case, are the 2001 Bourgogne Blanc, Domaine Roulot (£80.75, Haynes, Hanson & Clark, 020-7259 0102), a classic, vibrant dry white, and, from the same merchant, the reliably creamy but lively 2001 Bourgogne Blanc from Domaine Marc Morey for £75.50. Jean-Marc Boillot has come up with a truly tangy white burgundy in the Rully Les Cloux 1er cru (£98.67, Berry Bros & Rudd, 01256 340148), and Lucien Denizot an attractive 2000 Montagny "Le Vieux Chateau" (£73, Justerini & Brooks, 020-7484 6400).

Among the best wines of growers tasted to date, I'd rank those of Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard, Marc Morey, Blain Gagnard, Etienne Sauzet and the under-rated Vincent Dancer. If you can stretch to £20, the rewards are there in class acts like Blain-Gagnard's elegantly balanced, focused Chassagne Montrachet (£166, HHC) and Jean-Noël Chassagne's peaches-and-cream Les Masures (£180-£185, Farr Vintners, 020-7821 2000; J&B). Hovering at the £20-plus level, both Etienne Sauzet's refined Puligny Montrachet (£210, J&B; HHC) and Marc Morey's intensely flavoured, sumptuously minerally Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers (£215, HHC) are superb. More luxurious still are Noël Gagnard's classy, richly concentrated, well-defined Chassagne Montrachet Les Chaumées (£240, Farr) and Vincent Dancer's mineral-rich, nuttily intense Meursault Les Perrières (£275, J&B).

Among the reds, Bruno Clair, Robert Chevillon, Sylvain Cathiard and Frédéric Esmonin have excelled. Clair's pure, raspberryish Marsannay Les Longeroies (£95, J&B) is excellent value at around £10 a bottle, and I also enjoyed Robert Chevillon's sumptuous yet elegantly longanberry-like St-Georges Aux Chaignots (£198, J&B). If you do buy at this stage, duty and VAT need to be added to the case price on delivery. But there's no need for a goose chase. Except in the cases of the rarest jewels, there should be plenty of opportunities to buy over the coming year.