2016 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Cuvée Classique

Although François Labet expressed a preference for 2016 over 2015 for its freshness and avoidance of overripe qualities, his 2015 Clos Vougeot Hommage à Jean Morin was one of my favorite wine of its vintage, combining an almost chocolatey ripeness, great creamy depth, surprising inner-mouth energy and noble velvety tannins. For this special cuvée, Labet picks grapes from the first shoots on his oldest vines. He then harvests multiple blocks of his oldest vines to make his Clos Vougeot Vieilles Vignes bottling, with the estate's remaining grapes going into his cuvée classique. Incidentally, prior to 2015, Labet's Vieilles Vignes bottling (which then indicated “over 100 years” on the label) came from a single block of his oldest vines in the middle of his holding, which he has recently begun to replant.

Labet picked quickly in 2016, beginning on September 17; the wines will be bottled with 13% to 13.2% alcohol without any chaptalization. He made 52 barrels of wine, vs. a normal 100. Labet noted that the quality of the barrels was particularly important in 2016. Since 2005 he has purchased his staves from the forest of Reichshoffen in the Bas-Rhin department in northeastern France (which is actually situated north of the Haut-Rhin, where most of Alsace’s top vineyards are located) and has had his barrels made by cooper Stéphane Chassin. The grain of the oak from this forest, says Labet, is “as soft as toilet paper and gives a delicacy to the wines.”