1997 Volnay Clos des Chênes 1er Cru

Gentle extraction of tannins was the key to handling the fruit in '98, says Dominique Lafon, whose destemmer was able to leave about 60%-70% whole berries. With a high percentage of whole berries, he explains, there's less contact with the seeds during the fermentation, and therefore less extraction of hard tannins. Lafon now does a longer maceration with less frequent pigeages or, put another way, he punches down the cap the same number of times over a period of three weeks as he used to do in two. The wines are typically moved into barrel with a bit of remaining sugar to finish their fermentation; keeping more gas with the wines helps to preserve their freshness. Lafon rates '98 and '97 as close in quality, but admits to preferring the vibrancy of the fruit in '98. Acidity levels were technically average in both vintages-but then acids here were healthy for '97, he notes. Lafon did not harvest until the Monday after the ban de vendange in '98, allowing the grapes to dry more thoroughly before starting. Rot-affected and sunburned grapes were eliminated in the vines and the final yields were extremely low, typically in the 18 hectoliters-per-hectare range. Grape sugars were excellent, yet the '98s, admits Lafon, don't quite offer the concentration one might expect from such a tiny crop.

Dominique Lafon compares his '97 reds to his '85s "in terms of the quality of tannins and fruit" but notes that the pHs were higher in '85. "The '97s will age better," he believes. Lafon gave the '97s a strong racking after the malos but decided against a second racking. Beginning in '97, Lafon switched to a new destemmer that doesn't crush the berries. As a result he is able to do a longer fermentation but with a softer extraction. "We get the same amount of tannins as before, but the tannins are now softer." But Lafon also pointed out that even in '96 a lot of the berries remained uncrushed because the grape skins were strong.