2006 Montrachet Grand Cru

Bouchard began bringing in pinot noir on August 27 but took a full three weeks to harvest in '07, compared to ten days the previous year, according to managing director Stephane Follin-Arbelet. "We picked the Meursault Genevrieres early, on about September 1," noted winemaker Philippe Prost, "but the top grand crus came in between September 10 and 13." The young whites have less tartaric acidity than the '04s, he added. "We find the '07s to be more like the '02s: they were closed at the beginning, with a lot of malic acidity. We recall that we really weren't able to appreciate the 2002s until November of 2003." Prost did almost no batonnage for the '07s, rolling the barrels instead to redistribute the lees. All of the '07s noted below are domain bottlings except for the four cuvees from Puligny-Montrachet; Bouchard buys must here but also does the vineyard work, selects the harvest date and directs the pressing of the fruit. Prost noted that Bouchard now uses a very expensive "Ferrari" system for bottling its wines without introducing oxygen. Prior to the bottling, the wines spend a month in stainless steel under a layer of nitrogen, which brings the oxygen level down to zero. A vacuum system is then used to fill the bottles, using nitrogen again, and CO2 is added to the top of the bottle before the cork is inserted. "Too many people bottle too quickly, with too much oxygen getting into the wines," Prost explained.

"Our philosophy is to pick chardonnay early," emphasized winemaker Philippe Prost. "This strategy enabled us to save the freshness in 2003 and 2000, and it also allowed us to avoid rot in 2006." Prost described 2006 as "a grower's vintage" in which the Bouchard team did a lot of leaf-pulling in mid-July, which helped to aerate the grapes. Alcohol levels in 2006 were in the high 13.7% to 13.9% range for most of the premier crus, noted Prost, with Meursault a bit higher; the Puligny acids were generally 4.1 to 4.2 grams per liter (or a bit higher than those of 2005), compared to 3.7 or 3.8 for Meursault. Incidentally, Prost is a big fan of 2005. "The wines don't necessarily have great concentration but they have higher dry extract than 2004 or 2002," he explained. This vintage generally brought lower yields in Meursault and Puligny than did 2006 due to low cluster weights, Prost added. (Henriot, Inc., New York, NY) Also recommended: Puligny-Montrachet (85).