2009 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Boillot, who is often an early harvester, especially for chardonnay, did not start bringing in his 2010 chardonnay until September 28, and he picked his pinot noir in October. He believes that some of his colleagues picked too early. "We had a good bit of maturity without losing acidity," he told me. "Waiting a little longer brought more fruit, but without loss of freshness. Besides, in those later days we had a dry north wind. And the thick skins from millerandage had been able to support the bad weather conditions in August." Boillot did no debourbage, bringing about 25 liters of lees into each of his 350-liter barrels. Even without batonnage, he said, the wines will absorb about 10 liters of lees during their time in barrel. As to 2009, Boillot started harvesting chardonnay very early, on September 3, then waited a week to start the pinot. "White Burgundy is about acidity, and pinot is about maturity," he told me. "White wines are about precision, minerality, freshness; they should be strict at the beginning. Burgundy has to refresh the mouth." I have limited my notes on the 2010s to wines that had finished, or were just at the end of, their malolactic fermentations. (Importers include Massanois Imports, Washington, D.C.; Chelsea Ventures, Kenilworth, IL; and Milton Road Trading Company, Napa, CA)

As you might have guessed, Henri Boillot picked very early in 2009, starting with chardonnay on September 4 and then attacking his pinots a week later. At the time of my early June visit, the malos were finished in his negociant cellar across the Route Nationale but not at his house, where he makes his domain wines. Boillot describes 2009 as a year with a lot of different styles, depending to a great degree on picking dates. "Those who harvested early had the chance to make wines with strong acid backbone," he told me. "For me the 2009s are like the 2006s but less ripe and less exotic." Boillot generally brought in his fruit with 12.5% to 12.8% potential alcohol and chaptalized lightly to prolong the fermentations. Incidentally, Boillot already rates the 2009 reds ahead of the '05s, which is high praise indeed. As to the whites, he believes his 2009s have good structure and acid spine. "They are charming wines but they also have plenty of aging potential," he explained. Many of the wines finished quite dry, in a classic sense.