2015 Beaune Teurons 1er Cru

Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry started harvesting on September 24 in 2016, picking “very healthy grapes” in a quick week, with potential alcohol levels between 12.5% and 13%. The average yield for the estate was 22 hectoliters per hectare, which Choppin de Janvry told me was better than in 2013 and 2014. He told me that he had worked the soil just before the frost and believes that the broken-up ground absorbed some of the excess humidity that resulted in so many of the buds being “fried” by the sun on the morning of April 23. Still, several of his vineyards were hit hard, and he did not make either Beaune Grèves or Marconnets in 2016.

He described 2016 as “a classic vintage of Pinot Noirs with elegance, tension, freshness and purity of terroir.” The wines, he says, have the vibrancy to age well, despite their relatively low levels of malic acidity. He views 2015 as “a great vintage but not a great classic Pinot Noir year," adding that the wines will need time to express themselves. Incidentally, since the 2015 harvest Choppin de Janvry has been using a new destemmer that enables him to retain a higher percentage of uncrushed berries. He vinified with about 8% whole clusters in 2016 (and 20% in 2017). The ‘16s were in cuves at the time of my November visit, awaiting bottling the following week.

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.