2007 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru

Bouchard's harvest on the Cote d'Or normally is carried out over eight to ten days, as the house has a large team of pickers to draw on. But 2007 brought very heterogeneous ripeness, noted winemaker Philippe Prost. "In the early sites we needed to pick quickly, but the cooler sites required us to wait for a long time," he explained. "It was tricky because when we stopped for a day we had to worry about losing our pickers. It was a bad summer, but cool conditions saved the health of the grape bunches." The team started on the Cote de Beaune on August 27, but didn't finish the pinot noir until September 15 on the Cote de Nuits, where grape sugars ended up a bit lower. Still, grand crus like Clos-Vougeot and Bonnes-Mares were not chaptalized. In the end, added Prost, the skins were a bit thicker than they had been in 2006, and there was better purity of fruit. Bouchard's vertical press gives clearer juice, and the wines went into barrel with fewer "vegetal pieces," he went on. "This has allowed us to let the wines age a long time on their fine lees without racking them, since there's less risk that they will lose color. Ultimately, 2007 has more precision of fruit than 2006, some of which display dusty earth tones."