Jasper Morris

Jasper Morris (born December 27, 1957) is a British Master of Wine since 1985.[1] An expert on the wine of Burgundy, with a strong interest in other pinot-producing countries such as New Zealand, he has taken a strong interest in the nascent wine industries of China and Japan, visiting the wine regions of both countries.

Jasper Morris
Jasper Morris
BornJasper Morris
(1957-12-27) December 27, 1957
Basingstoke, United Kingdom
OccupationWine critic
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
Alma materOxford University
SubjectWine
Notable awardsMaster of Wine

Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite Agricole

André Simon Book Award
Website
www.insideburgundy.com

Biography

Morris founded the successful specialist wine importers Morris & Verdin in 1981. He studied to become a Master of Wine concurrently with Jancis Robinson, MW, and with his sister Arabella Woodrow, MW, Morris achieving the accreditation in 1985 and Woodrow in 1986. Morris and Woodrow are the only pair of siblings to be Masters of Wine.[2]

After Berry Bros. & Rudd acquired Morris & Verdin in 2003, Morris was appointed BBR buying director.[3] In May 2008, Morris, together with colleagues at BBR, published "The Future of Wine Report", speculating on the state of the wine industry in the coming 50 years.[4][5][6]He retired from the company in July 2017.

In 2016 Morris was appointed as Senior Consult for Christie's with responsibility for the annual Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction.[7]

Morris' early book publications are White Wines of Burgundy, and The Wines of the Loire. In September 2010, Morris presented his substantial book Inside Burgundy, which won the André Simon prize, the initial launch publication of the new BBR publishing division, Berry Bros. & Rudd Press.[8]

Having retired from commerce Jasper Morris has embarked on a new career as Burgundy expert and critic, culminating in the launch of the website Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy in September 2018. [9]

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy - The Website
Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy Website Logo, www.insideburgundy.com. Founded September 2018.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy is the perfect website for the Burgundy lover. The website is dedicated to everything about the wines of Burgundy. It complements Jasper Morris’s book, Inside Burgundy, which is a mine of information about the region, the vineyards and the producers.

The website offers up to the minute insights into what is happening in Burgundy today, and extensive reviews of wines past and present.

Jasper Morris's 100 Point and 5 Star Scales

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy uses a combination of the following two scales to help distinguish a truly successful wine. The aim is to provide information and to give guidance on which wines are worth buying. For this Jasper Morris has designed a double-headed scoring system: Absolute Scoring on the 100 Point Scale and Comparative Grading out of 5 stars.[10]

The 100 Point Scale

Most international publications have taken to this scale. It is much more useful in Bordeaux or for other regions where a producer offers a single wine, but less well in Burgundy or wherever a producer has a wide range of wines which tend broadly to follow a hierarchical pattern – in our case generic Bourgogne, village, lieu-dit, premier cru, grand cru.

There will be occasions when a Bourgogne Rouge stands out as a more successful wine than the same producer’s village wine but this doesn’t happen often. So we need some way to flag up wines which are really fine examples of their category. So step forward… The Five Star Scale

The 5 Star Scale

5 Stars - An outstanding wine in its category. This accolade will be given very rarely, certainly to less than 10% of wines tasted across the year. A generic Bourgogne might deserve this reward if it merits 89 or 90 points whereas a Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles would need 96 for the same result.

4 Stars - An excellent wine in its category and given the ‘unicorn’ status of the fifth star, any producer receiving 4 stars for a wine should be extremely proud of their achievement.

3 Stars - A wine that meets or exceeds expectations: the producer has done very well in this vintage. These wines are recommended for purchase if they fall within your style and pricing brackets.

2 Stars - Two stars may seem ungenerous, but nonetheless this wine fulfils what the appellation or vineyard should be able to offer. While the little bit extra may not be readily evident, this is still a well-made wine.

1 Star - A little bit disappointing compared to expectations. We hope that there will not be too many wines in this category, given that most wines tasted come from producers pre-selected for their quality.

Some wines may not gain a star of any sort though these will normally be suffering from a specific fault.

Jasper Morris's Tasting Reports

The core activity of the Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy website is the provision of Tasting Reports. Each one of these provides an interesting narrative in its own right, while also populating the database which is growing all the time, and from which at any time you can check up on the current rating of any wine of interest. The Tasting Reports themselves come in various guises and this is fully explained below:[11][12]

En Primeur Barrel Tastings

These are conducted at the domaines between September and December in the year following the vintage. The wines may still be in barrel, or tank, or recently bottled and will not be tasted blind. A range of scores will be given if the wine has not yet been assembled for bottling, or a single score if the wine has been bottled. The complete report with notes on the growing seasons and comments on how each appellation has performed will be released on 31st December. Further tasting notes may be added during the following six months.

The Burgfest Tastings

The Burgfest Tastings of the principal 1ers and Grands Crus take place three years after the vintage, with the whites tasted in May and the reds in September. The wines are sourced from the producers and tasted blind against their immediate peers. The wines are decanted into neutral carafes and served blind in short flights of single or neighbouring vineyards.

The 10 Year On & 20 Year on Tastings

10 Year On and 20 Year On Tastings are held (together) in June of the appropriate year. The wines are sourced from the producers and are not served blind, so examples of the same wines in the market place may not have the same provenance.

Producer Verticals

Producer Verticals may be instigated by the producers themselves or be the result of tastings and dinners assembled by reliable collectors or our own efforts. The background to the tasting will be explained in each case in the introductory remarks. These wines are not usually tasted blind.

Vineyard Focus

Vineyard Focus tastings will cover a specific vineyard and multiple producers, either in a vertical or a horizontal format, teasing out the character of the vineyard in question while establishing who are the key performers.

Inside Burgundy - The Book
Inside Burgundy - The Book. Written by Jasper Morris. Published in 2010.

Inside Burgundy has been a critical and sales success ever since first publication in 2010. It is at once personal and encyclopaedic, offering detailed knowledge gained over decades allied to insights into the places – and above all the people – that make Burgundy so special. In the main part of the book, Jasper Morris describes more than 1,000 vineyards and 150 wine villages, and profiles and appraises some 450 producers. Added to this are chapters on the background to Burgundy – geography, winemaking, grapes – and on vintages. Thirty-six unique, highly-detailed maps offer insights into the complex network of vineyards and appellations.

The hardback book (654 pages and 2 kilos) is complemented by eBooks, designed to be enjoyed on iPad, iPhone and Mac screens. Electronic capability adds video clips – stand with Jasper in the vineyards – zoomable, interactive maps and beautiful colour photographs to the award-winning text. [13]

Contents
  • Foreword by Steven Spurrier
  • List of Maps
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • How to use this book
  • Glossary

Background to Burgundy
  • The historical background
  • Burgundy wine trade
  • The geography: terroir, geology & soil
  • The weather: wind, rain, hail, frost & sun
  • White grapes
  • Red grapes
  • Viticulture
  • The harvest
  • In search of a style
  • Making white wine
  • Making red wine

Vineyards & Vignerons

The appellations & classifications:

Côte de Nuits
  • Côte de Nuits–Villages
  • Marsannay
  • Fixin
  • Gevrey-Chambertin
  • Morey-St-Denis
  • Chambolle-Musigny
  • Vougeot
  • Vosne-Romanée & Flagey-Echézeaux
  • Nuits-St-Georges

Côte de Beaune
  • The Hill of Corton
  • Beaune
  • Savigny- & Chorey-lès-Beaune
  • Pommard
  • Volnay
  • Auxey-Duresses, Monthélie, St-Romain
  • Meursault & Blagny
  • The Montrachets
  • Puligny-Montrachet
  • Chassagne-Montrachet
  • St-Aubin
  • Santenay
  • Maranges

Greater Burgundy
  • Bourgogne
  • Crémant de Bourgogne
  • The Hautes-Côtes
  • Chablis
  • The Auxerrois
  • Côte Chalonnais
  • The Mâconnais
  • Pouilly-Fuissé

Bibliography
  • Morris, Jasper (1988). The White Wines of Burgundy. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0706431988.
  • Morris, Jasper (1989). The Wines of The Loire. Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-0600567479.
  • Morris, Jasper (2010). Inside Burgundy. Berry Bros & Rudd Press. ISBN 978-0951063217.

Awards and recognition
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See also

References
  1. Morris, Jasper, Master of Wine, The Institute of Masters of Wine
  2. Woodrow, Arabella, Master of Wine, The Institute of Masters of Wine
  3. Lechmere, Adam, Decanter.com (November 28, 2003). "Berry Brothers buys Morris & Verdin".
  4. Berry Bros. & Rudd, Berrys' Future of Wine Report Archived 2008-05-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Meikle, James, The Guardian (May 9, 2008). "Chateau China, a taste of wines to come with climate change".
  6. Styles, Oliver, Decanter.com (May 9, 2008). "China to become leading wine producer?".
  7. The Drinks Business, CHRISTIE’S APPOINTS JASPER MORRIS AS HOSPICES CONSULTANT
  8. Gibb, Rebecca, Decanter.com (August 11, 2010). Berry Bros launches publishing division
  9. Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy, InsideBurgundy.com (May 25, 2020). About JMIB | Learn a little more about Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy.
  10. Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy, InsideBurgundy.com (May 27, 2020). The 100 Point Scale | The Five Star Scale
  11. Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy, InsideBurgundy.com (May 27, 2020). JMIB tasting reports | JMIB Tasting Notes
  12. Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy, InsideBurgundy.com (May 27, 2020). An Introduction to Tasting Reports
  13. Inside Burgundy - The Book, InsideBurgundy.com (May 27, 2020). About the Book | Inside Burgundy.
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