The oxidation which has been observed in the 1995 to 2012 vintages seems to vary widely among producers. Some producers have a very high incidence of oxidized bottles while others have very little. Because the producers’ performance with respect to the incidence of premature oxidation has varied over time, and because some producers have made considerable progress in combating premox, in this latest update (June 2020) I have primarily weighted the list based upon the producers’ performance in the vintages from 2001 through 2011.

In my opinion [Ed. Don Cornwell], there appear to be five broad categories among producers.

Category I – Highest Premox Incidence Producers: The first category is a group of producers whose rates of oxidation (either notably advanced or overtly oxidized) appear to be greater than 40% by the time that the bottles are 7.5 years from the vintage and, in a few cases, the incidence of oxidation approaches 100% by that time. In my opinion, the producers who fall in this category of the highest incidence producers are (in alphabetical order):

Blain-Gagnard
Henri Boillot [N.B. Just over 50% advanced or oxidized in our annual white burgundy dinners]
Bouard-Bonnefoy
Fontaine-Gagnard
Gagnard-Delagrange
Henri Germain
Maltroye
Matrot
Mikulski

Former Category I Producers to avoid in older vintages:

Droin [prior to 2011 switch to DIAM]
Fevre [prior 2010 switch to DIAM]
Jadot [2000 to 2010 vintages only; 2011 switch to DIAM]
Domaine Leflaive [2006-2013 vintages; 2014 switch to DIAM]
Montille [prior to 2009 switch to DIAM].

Former Category I Producers to avoid in oldest vintages (I have no significant experience with these since 2002 vintage, but I add these former Category I producers as a cautionary note):

Guy Amiot
Colin-Deleger
Coutoux
Jouard
Juillot
Tessier
Verget

Category II – Above-average Premox Incidence. The second category is a group of producers who have unexplainable seemingly “random” oxidation but at what appears to be a clearly higher than normal or “above average” incidence. The producers who in my opinion presently fall in this category are:

Buisson-Charles
Bruno Colin [high risk]
R&V Dauvissat
Drouhin
Antoine Jobard [high risk]
JN Gagnard
Lafon [prior to 2013 switch to DIAM]
Hubert Lamy [prior to switch to DIAM in 2016(?)]
Louis Latour [high risk]
Bonneau du Martray
Le Moine [high risk]
Pierre Morey
Niellon
Pernot [high risk prior to switch to DIAM in 2017]

Category III – Average Premox Incidence. The third category is the largest group of producers. There are too many to list here but the average at about 7.5 to 8 years after the vintage is that roughly 12% will be advanced or oxidized for wines closed with conventional cork.

Category IV – Below Average Premox Incidence. The fourth category is a group of producers who have lower than average incidence of premature oxidation (i.e. below 10% incidence). In some cases, the producer in question has had oxidation problems in only one or two particular vintages:

Jacques Carillon [since 2002 - Category II producer from 1995-2001 vintages]
Colin-Morey
Latour-Giraud [since 2008]
Leroy SA
Bernard Moreau
Marc Morey
Jean-Marc Pillot [since 2002 – Category II producer from 1995-2001 vintages]
Roulot

Category V: Lowest Premox Incidence. The fifth and final group of producers are those who have the lowest premox risk. I have now split this group into two categories.

Lowest Risk Producers using conventional cork closures The first category of lowest risk producers includes producers who use natural cork closures and have very little premature oxidation as a percentage of bottles opened and indeed seem to have no higher incidence of premature oxidation after 1994 than they did before:

Coche-Dury
DRC
Leroy/D'Auvenay
Raveneau

Lowest Risk Producers using DIAM (and the initial vintage for relatively complete use of DIAM):

Roger Belland (2009)
Bouchard Pere (2009)
Jean-Marc Brocard (2012)
Chanson (2013)
Jean Charton (2020)
Chateau de Meursault (2020)
Chateau de Puligny Montrachet (2009)
Fabien Coche (2018)
Marc Colin (2016)
Joseph Colin (2017)
Jean Collet [Chablis] (2015, but excludes US imports through Kermit Lynch)
Daniel Dampt (2014) (90% of production. Remainder under screwcap or natural cork, depending on the importer's preference.)
Sebastian Dampt (2015?)
Vincent Dampt (2015?)
de Bellene and Roche de Bellene (2011)
Droin (2011)
William Fevre (2010)
Guffens-Heynen (2011)
Antonin Guyon (2018)
Maison Harbour (2013)
Heitz-Lochardet (2015)
Jadot (2011)
Lafon (2013)
Domaine de Lambrays (2020)
Hubert Lamy (2017 for 80% of production; 2019 for 100% of production)
Domaine Leflaive (2014) [but be somewhat wary of big cut in SO2 use in 2015]
Olivier Leflaive (2012)
Benjamin Leroux (2020) [Note: only 20 ppm free SO2 with Diam 30]
Long-Depaquit (Bichot) (2018)
Christian Moreau (2017) (Excludes Clos des Hospices which continues to be closed with cork)
Louis Moreau [Chablis] (2016)
Montille (also Deux Montille and Maison Montille) (2009)
Meurgey-Croses (2019)
Hugues Pavelot (2019)
Domaine de Pavillon (Bichot) (2018)
Paul Pernot (2017)
F&L Pillot (2010)
Prieur (2013)
Rapet (2017)
Tollot-Beaut (2017)
Vocoret et Fils [Chablis] (2015)