2016 Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanée 1er Cru

Jean-Pierre Cournut picked early in 2016 to retain acidity, then carried out a longer élevage on the lees than usual to preserve freshness in the wines. While he still prefers his 2015s for their minerality and cellaring potential, the ‘16s showed very well at the beginning of June and appear to have the energy to support at least mid-term aging (with the top cuvées likely to be even longer-lived). Yields varied widely depending on the extent of frost damage, with production just 16 hectoliters per hectare in Bâtard-Montrachet and 11 in Chassagne-Montrachet La Dent de Chien, neither of which Cournut presented in late spring owing to their extreme scarcity.

According to Jean-Pierre Cournut, the 2015 white wines were fresher and brighter last spring than the '16s were at the time of my May 31 visit this year, but he added that all of the '15s were acidified and that the grapes in 2016 actually had better acidity at the time of the harvest (he acidified his 2016 La Romanée and Grandes Ruchottes lightly). He also finds the '16s to be less minerally than the '15s. Cournut began harvesting in 2016 on September 23, with yields in some vineyards down sharply due to frost. The malos were finished and the wines had been sulfited about three weeks before I stopped by to taste. I did not find these wines to be lacking in energy.

Cournut describes his 2015s as “pungent, precise, minerally wines with long aging potential” but also noted that it was a “very particular” vintage for him, as he made just half a crop overall—“even less than in 2012”—but experienced sharp differences in yields among his holdings. He started harvesting on August 27 with good acidity, but noted that some of his neighbors did not begin until eight days later, by which time acid levels in the grapes had plunged. He summed up by asserting that 2015 is “the best white vintage I've ever made.”