2005 Vosne-Romanee Aux Reignots

Bouchard began harvesting its chardonnay on September 18, but waited three more days before beginning the pinot harvest in Volnay Caillerets and Beaune Greves. According to winemaker Philippe Prost, there were no problems with rot in the estate vineyards, as the team pulled leaves in mid-July and also kept the cluster counts down. Although cluster weights were higher than those of 2005, they were still in the modest 100 to 105 gram range, and no saignee was done in 2006. Prost told me that the team eliminated some rotten and green grapes, as well as some dried grapes in hail-affected vineyards like Clos de Beze and Chapelle-Chambertin. He crushed the fruit only gently, which he says allows for a longer, "quieter" alcoholic fermentation and helps to avoid bitterness at the end of the macerations. Ultimately, said Prost, the wines are generally very healthy, clean and fresh, with good color and good acidity, and tannins that are a bit drier than those of 2005. "What some wines are missing is a bit of texture and concentration," he said. "The hierarchy of vineyards is very important in terms of richness and complexity."

"Two thousand two is like a blade, while 2005 is more generous," said winemaker Philip Prost. "The 2005s have riper acidity as well as more alcohol and extract." The skins were thick and Prost carried out a week-long pre-fermentation cold soak, but he noted that he did not extract heavily, limiting punchdowns to the first six or seven days of the fermentation itself. Later pigeages in the presence of alcohol would have given the wines a bitterness, said Prost, who believed that the seeds in the 2005 pinots were not completely ripe.Prost vinified his grand crus and a few of the premier crus with about 25% of their stems. Incidentally, Prost believes that the 2005s show a slight salinity; in this dry year, he said, the water in the wine came only from the soil, rather than directly from rainfall. "This gives the wine a crispness and a clean aftertaste, but it's not exactly minerality," he told me. Incidentally, Prost was hardly the only winemaker I visited in November who observed that the 2005 grand crus were evolving particularly slowly. Of course, in Bouchard's new colder, more humid cellar, the barrels retain more CO2, which generally slows down the development of the wines during elevage.