2004 Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des Ruchottes Grand Cru

Eric Rousseau describes 2005 as "a great vin de garde; it's rare to get a vintage as perfect as 2005." He went on: "It was an exceptional year for Burgundy in terms of the lack of problems. It wasn't too hot, and although there was not much water, the vines did not suffer. And of course the harvest was very clean, and there were virtually no rotten or green grapes to eliminate." The estate carried out a severe green harvest during the second half of July, but production was still in the 40 to 48 hl/ha range, which Rousseau described as "high for us." Rousseau has stopped heating the cellar to bring about a rapid malolactic fermentation, but the malos nonetheless started in November and finished in March.

After visiting with Charles Rousseau in his office in the courtyard of this estate, I tasted the 2004s with new assistant Anne Schussler, who told me that the estate lost one-third of its harvest to hail. "But it was an easy matter to eliminate the rotten and hailed-on grapes at the harvest, in the vines," she said. The ultimate production was between 2002 and 2003 in size-or about 32 hectoliters per hectare for the grand crus. This year, the Rousseaus did not heat their cellar to push through the malolactic fermentations, with the result that the malos occurred in a leisurely fashion; some wines did not finish until summer. They should all be bottled by the summer of 2006, said Schussler. I found these wines reasonably pure but lacking in stuffing and real concentration; a few of the big boys seemed to be hiding behind their tannins in November. But it must be noted that due to the late malos these wines were considerably less advanced than they usually are at the same date.