2015 Beaune Marconnets 1er Cru

Geoffroy Choppin de Janvry told me he harvested from September 2 through 7 without rain, with potential alcohol generally at 13% (a couple cuvées came in at about 12.7% and were chaptalized to 13%). Owing to the extent of millerandage in 2015, the estate produced an average of only 30 hectoliters per hectare, but a bit more in Beaune Aigrots and Bressandes. Choppin de Janvry told me he feared that the wines would be heavy and lack freshness but noted that “they’re more elegant now than I thought at the beginning.” He benefited from a new destemmer in 2015, which allows him to work with a higher percentage of uncrushed berries, and he noted that the fermentation temperatures did not exceed 29 degrees C. He also cut back somewhat on extraction in 2015, beginning with one pigeage per day, then switching to remontages after the first several days of the fermentation.

Owing partly to Domaine Morot’s very deep, cold cellar, most of the '15s were still in the final stages of their malolactic fermentations when I sampled them in November, and they were all still in their original barrels, unracked. Some were tricky to taste. Incidentally, this estate is officially certified as organic as of vintage 2015.