Si Tu Sais: 2024 Vintage Release - UK Exclusive
Burgundy is a region caught between two worlds. On one side stand the historic, heavily fortified estates whose bottles have become untouchable icons, traded on global markets and locked away in speculative cellars. On the other side is a quiet, radical underground. This is where the real energy of modern Burgundy lives: on the physical fringes, driven by a new wave of obsessive, independent outsiders who care far more about what's in the bottle than a legendary postcode. A new wave of radical, obsessive characters is spearheading this New Wave, with SI TU SAIS the one we champion.
Founded in 2017 by Patrick Johnston, a young Canadian banker who walked away from a career in high finance to pursue an uncompromising, low-intervention vision of winemaking, SI TU SAIS represents a beautiful defiance. Operating out of a tiny cellar in Chamilly, he built relationships with friendly local growers, earning his place not through inheritance, but by getting his hands dirty.
If you are one of our loyal regulars, a new member who has recently joined our community, or if you simply stumbled onto our website today while hunting for the new and exciting, we invite you to secure your allocation of these rare, beautifully honest Burgundy wines below.
In line with our philosophy, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to taste even the rarest allocations. So please, do not hesitate to ask if any questions arise.
OUR EXCLUSIVE 2024 VINTAGE RELEASE FROM SI TU SAIS
PLEASE NOTE: Wines are offered in their original packaging of 6x75cl, or by the bottle, subject to remaining unsold & final confirmation, E. & O.E. Minimum order for Free Delivery or Bonded transfer is £250 - quoted at cost below (£18 incl. tax). UK ready by Autumn 2024.
THE 2024 VINTAGE REPORT: SURVIVING THE SPRING
The 2024 growing season was one of the most gruelling and challenging in recent memory. What began as a blessing - generous winter rains that beautifully replenished the water table - quickly evolved into a story of relentless endurance.
From February right through to June, Burgundy was locked in a cycle of cool, grey days and above-average rainfall. Mildew pressure was a constant, exhausting battle. The ground became so soft and waterlogged that tractors risked getting completely stuck in the mud, forcing Patrick and the growers to execute much of the critical vineyard work entirely by hand.
While the white varieties experienced a fair flowering period, the reds suffered heavily under the highly variable conditions. It became clear early on that quantities would look nothing like the abundant 2022 and 2023 vintages.
Walking the Négociant Tightrope
Faced with yields that were tracking at less than half of the previous year - a reality that could easily crush a young micro-négoce business - SI TU SAIS had to make a defining choice as summer arrived:
- Stick rigidly to the exact same parcels and accept a potentially catastrophic drop in volume.
- Or adapt, seek out new fruit, and use the crisis as an opportunity to refine what they could make for the future.
Patrick chose to adapt, carefully walking the tightrope of sourcing new parcels without committing to more than a true micro-scale cellar could handle.
The Harvest: Saved by August
Relief finally arrived in August with a vital two-week window of dry, warm weather, which catalysed the sugar accumulation and phenolic ripeness that had been sorely lacking.
Pushing patience to the limit, the harvest was delayed as long as practical. Picking finally commenced on 19 September, starting with the Côte de Nuits Villages ‘En Chantemerle’, and everything was safely tucked away in the cellar by 25 September.
It was a year that sparked intense debate over the gruelling physical demands and harsh realities of organic farming, leaving growers working twice as hard for drastically reduced - and in some heartbreaking cases, zero - yields. But out of that relentless adversity, Patrick has coaxed a vintage of immense honesty, character, and hard-won beauty.
THE 2024 RANGE - A rare glimpse in this micro-range from our tastings.
Bourgogne Chardonnay — (£44 IB / £60 Home)
- Production: 1,156 bottles produced
- The Terroir: From the Mâconnais, near Vinzelles.
- The Profile: Tending towards greener, more restrained tropical flavours this year, with guava alongside grapefruit, red apple, and ripe lemon with a touch of sweet spices and florals. A pleasing grapefruit pith textural bitterness comes through on the palate, well matched by a tart acidity and a full body.
Bourgogne Blanc ‘Champs Dorés’ — (£44 IB / £60 Home)
- Production: 936 bottles produced
- The Terroir: New for 2024, from a gently sloping site at the eastern exit of Mercurey in the Cote Chalonnaise, near where the vines give way to gently rolling hills planted with grain that turns straw-colored and golden over the summer.
- The Profile: Yellow peaches, mirabelle plums, red and yellow apples, and ripe lemon alongside honeysuckle and gingerbread. Creamy body and well-balanced acidity, with a chalky, textural finish.
Rully Blanc ‘Les Cailloux’ — (£62 IB / £81 Home)
- Production: 1,237 bottles produced
- The Terroir: From a site high up on the plateau overlooking the town of Rully.
- The Profile: Florals dominate the nose, with rose petals giving way to melon, honeysuckle and a touch of cotton candy, with limes and yellow pears underneath. Medium bodied with bright, tart acidity, but more presence on the palate than the delicate nose suggests. A really pleasing wine, and for the moment showing more classically than the 2023.
Mercurey Blanc ‘Le Châtelet’ — (£65 IB / £85 Home)
- Production: 1,266 bottles produced
- The Terroir: From a beautiful site at 370m overlooking a cliff face facing east over the commune of Saint-Martin-sous-Montaigu. A sloping parcel with quite thin, pebbly soils and a blend of vine ages.
- The Profile: Green apple and grapefruit lead, with a wet stone minerality. A touch of reduction on opening lifts to reveal flint and dried flowers from new oak (one of four barrels). Creamy texture and body cleansed by high acidity. A really fresh wine for the summer.
Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc ‘Les Belles Filles’ — (£73 IB / £94 Home)
- Production: 1,022 bottles produced
- The Terroir: From a shielded parcel at the southern entrance to the town. Today, with a warmer climate, this cool-pocket nature makes it one of the most coveted "freshness reserves" in the Côte de Beaune. The soil here is heavily mixed with chaillots, which are sharp, flinty, siliceous stone remnants left over from decomposed flint-limestone.
- The Profile: We think this is the most mature and sophisticated version of this wine we’ve made. On the nose, there is honey and ripe lemon alongside flower petals, hay, chamomile, flint, and wet stone.
Bourgogne Côte d’Or ‘Entre Deux’ — (£53 IB / £70 Home)
- Production: 680 bottles produced
- The Terroir: Our final new parcel of the vintage, located near Savigny-lès-Beaune, directly across the road from several Savigny premier crus. Yields were significantly down in 2024; fortunately, there will be more to share in 2025 next year!
- The Profile: Very light in colour, a lean and restrained Pinot very much in our style and showing the cooler vintage. Red cherries, redcurrant, and plum mix with the herbal and savoury characters we love in Pinot Noir from Burgundy, with bramble and forest floor alongside thyme, rosemary, and rose petal.
Côte de Nuits-Villages ‘En Chantemerle’ — (£72 IB / £93 Home)
- Production: 863 bottles produced
- The Terroir: From a gently sloping vineyard located near the southern entrance to Corgoloin, right towards the southern end of the Côte de Nuits.
- The Profile: The lightest version of this wine we’ve ever made but showing all of the hallmarks of the site we’ve come to be familiar with. Blackberries, black cherries, and blackcurrants are complemented by chocolate, anise, fennel, and olive brine. Fine-textured but present tannins will continue to evolve with time.