2010 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru (M)

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)