Pre-fermentation phases for Burgundy red

A quick technical message. We had the opportunity to taste red Burgundy wines of a special kind. Those were made using a long prefermentation phase where grapes macerate at cold temperature (to avoid fermeting). Actually there was a hype in Burgundy with those techniques in the late 90's.

To do this is really much work. One has to keep the whole grape and sometimes use C02 to prevent from oxidation... This involves a lot of work in the vineyards before harvesting since grapes should be absolutely perfect before macerating.

This technique is well used for Beaujolais wines. This yields very fruity and amazingly open wines... But for Burgundy, I really think that it is a mistake. All wines made like this tend to taste the same... very fruity and quite short in mouth. So I think it is a pity to make great Burgundy wines this way since one does not get the full taste from the soil (terroir). Moreover these wines do not age well at all. I could taste awful though expensive Vosne 1er Cru 2002. Burgundy is not Beaujolais.

Cheers to all,
V.