2009 Montrachet Grand Cru

According to Gerard Boudot, the 2010s are similar to the 2008s in their "good fruit, natural alcoholic degrees and minerality." Yields were very low on the hillsides (just under 30 hectoliters per hectare, on average, for the premier crus), but close to normal on the tops of the hills (about 45 h/h for the grand crus) due to the later flowering under better weather conditions. The grapes were small due to widespread millerandage, and the levels of dry extract are solid, added Boudot, who did not expect to bottle his crus until next March. Boudot has cut way back on lees stirring in recent years; for the 2010s, he did just three batonnages prior to the malolactic fermentations and then stopped. The 2009s here are also quite strong in the context of the vintage. "Early harvesting was the secret to success in '09," said Boudot, "and it was necessary to limit the size of the crop. After that, the wines were very easy to vinify." (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)

This is a beautiful set of wines from Etienne Sauzet. Proprietor Gerard Boudot emphasized the importance of keeping yields low and picking early. The harvest began on September 7. Boudot did a very light bâtonnage, and the wines saw approximately 20% new oak. The 2009s were bottled beginning in August 2010, but the premier and grand crus weren't bottled until March 2011.

I tasted this year with Gerard Boudot's assistant Bernard Riffault, who described the 2009 harvest as similar to the conditions of 2005. "The grapes were yellow but not too exotic," Riffault explained. "There was a bit more juice in the grapes in '09 and very little sorting was needed, so we made the full crop." Today Boudot starts with more lees, presses stronger and longer and does no batonnage, according to Riffault. The wines are more reduced during elevage, and that may be why he told me he thought they were "a bit compact, with a cold calcaire quality" when we tasted together. I thought they showed more crunchiness than the 2005s, whose aromas show a warmer aspect. Riffault believes the estate's 2008s will be easy to drink young. "Some are in surmaturite, almost with a botrytis character," he told me. "It's not a taut vintage or a classic year for aging, but the wines have good acidity and should have decent cellaring potential." Riffault finds the 2008s to be a bit more viscous than the 2009s as a group, describing the latter vintage as more classic. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)