2005 Meursault Clos des Ambres

I nominate Ente as the test case for early harvesting in 2006. Ente started picking on September 13 (as early a starting date as I heard from the growers I visited in late spring) and finished in a week. "We had potential alcohols between 13.3% and 13.6% and the grapes were ripe at that point, with a superb acid balance," Ente explained. "I love minerality, and I didn't want to lose that by waiting." Acid levels following the malos are in the healthy 4 to 4.5 grams-per-liter range, or a good half-gram higher than the figures provided by most other estates on my annual tour. The wines have a bracing character and green-tinged colors I found at very few other addresses, not to mention more moderate alcohol levels than most Meursaults from fruit harvested later; only time will tell if they are sufficiently ripe to expand and broaden in bottle. My gut feeling is that they will enjoy a slow and eventful evolution. Ente noted that his 2006s and 2005s featured similar yields (about 40 hectoliters per hectare on average) and density. Acid levels were a bit higher in '06, and partly for this reason he finds the 2005s to be very good but not great, "lacking ultimate finesse and distinction." As in most recent vintages, the 2006 Aligote and Bourgogne Blanc will both be worth seeking out, with the latter wine especially racy and successful-as well as the highest in potential alcohol in '06.

Ente harvested early in 2005, and has made wines he describes as "very rich and opulent but with very good acidity."The summer was not great, he went on, but it was dry."There was not a lot of juice in the grapes, and that brought concentration."As in a couple of recent years, Ente harvested his Puligny-Montrachet Referts before the official first day of the harvest.Fans of topnotch Bourgogne blanc should keep an eye out for Ente's 2005, which is remarkably full and stuffed with fruit.