2015 Vosne-Romanée Aux Brûlées 1er Cru

Michel Mallard vinified the estate’s Grands-Echézeaux in 2015 without adding sulfur and liked the results of this experiment (“the aromas gained in precision”) so much that he took the same approach with all of the 2016s at this address. “Still,” he told me in November, “it was frightening to have wines with no protection—and especially tricky to make some wines with 60% whole clusters and not add sulfur” [until after the malolactic fermentations]. The estate made just two barrels of Echézeaux in ’16 from its 0.5-hectare holding and the frost destroyed 60% of the buds in Grands-Echézeaux and Clos Vougeot. The harvest took place between September 23 and 29, with grape sugars ranging from 12.5% to 13%. “Only a few cuvées were chaptalized to make certain that they would finish with 13% alcohol,” said Mallard.

Mallard likes the young 2016s for their airy aromatics, sappy freshness, precision and tension; he wondered out loud if the vintage would prove to be his best yet at Domaine d’Eugénie. He carried out his normal extraction, which includes five or six days of pre-fermentation cold soak without sulfur, as well as four to seven days of post-fermentation maceration. The 2016s, says Mallard, "are sappy and youthfully compact, and they have more energy than the ‘15s." The earlier vintage, he added, is higher in alcohol “but still shows good energy considering that one has the impression of a sunny year.” He's not sure if the '15s will ever close down but notes that they need a decanting--and should be served a bit cooler than "usual vintages."

Two thousand fifteen does not have the surmaturité of 2009 but it’s still un millésime solaire,” said winemaker Michel Mallard in December, adding that the young 2016s are demonstrating even more aromatic intensity at the same stage of development than the ‘15s. The estate brought in its Clos Vougeot in 2015 with a high 13.6% potential alcohol, and the Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux were just a shade lower at 13.4%. Mallard carried out a 12-day cold maceration at about 12 degrees C., then two did punchdowns per day during the early stages of fermentation. The pHs in 2015 are a slightly elevated 3.6, due in part to the higher percentage of whole-cluster fermentation—50% for all of the crus. This promises to be Domaine d’Eugénie’s finest vintage to date, and the wines have the structure for long aging.