2016 Bourgogne Rouge

Benjamin Leroux, whose company is now ten years old, provided an interesting take on the effects of the frost in 2016. “Where we didn’t have frost, we had a decent crop, and the unfrosted wines are more elegant, more relaxed. The wines that were affected by frost tend to have tannins that are a bit square. The reduction of the crop did not necessarily bring anything positive.” Still, Leroux generally finds more consistent phenolic ripeness in 2016 than in 2015. “The ‘15s have more tannins but they’re not necessarily riper, owing to the drought.” He vinified with a higher percentage of whole clusters in 2016 than in '15, as he “preferred the shape of the bunches in 2016" and he also had a number of tiny cuvées "where we needed more volume in the tanks.”

According to Leroux, pHs in 2016 are in the range of 3.5 to 3.6, a bit higher than in 2015, a vintage that had slightly higher tartaric acidity. He generally chaptalized the ‘16s by about 0.3%, with the objective of keeping the fermentations going a bit longer; the finished wines will be between 12.5% and 13%.

Leroux told me he was an early harvester in 2015, although he wondered if he had started early enough in his Chardonnay vineyards. For the reds, he began with his Beaunes on September 4 and picked quickly, with almost no sorting necessary. Yields were typically between 35 and 40 hectoliters per hectare and he extracted gently. "I did not want to make black wines, like in 2005," he explained, adding that "I was much younger then."