2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Village

This estate brought in a very small crop of chardonnay grapes in 2008. "We waited a long time and lost a lot of crop to the wind," said Alexandre Bachelet. Compared to 2007, the chardonnay has more material and volume, he went on. "The 2007s are tight and rather strict but very elegant," he said, adding that he and brother Marc did a lot of batonnage until Christmas. "We thought there was a bit of a hole in the middle at the start, but the wines filled in with elevage." The 2008s featured very long alcoholic fermentations that lasted until mid-November, and, noted Marc, "the aromatic complexity arrived quickly, even before the malolactic fermentations." The brothers are aging their '08s with a relatively small quantity of their lees, as they felt the wines were already phenolic enough. As most of these wines were still in full malo at the time of my visit, I have offered just a couple of notes below. (Vintage '59 Imports, Washington, D.C; Ruby Wines, Avon, MA )

In time for the 2007 vinification and elevage, brothers Marc and Alexandre Bachelet installed a better air-conditioning system in their new cuverie, which enabled them to carry out a slower malolactic fermentation. The brothers picked late in 2007 ("we privileged grape maturity," said Marc), waiting until September 10 to attack the crus and benefiting from a concentration of sugars as a result of wind. Potential alcohol levels were close to 13% for the crus, and the Bachelets did a bit of acidification during the fermentation. Yields averaged between 40 and 45 hectoliters per hectare, similar to 2006. Alexandre, who at the time of my visit was a bit banged up following a motorcycle accident, noted that yields here are normally in a fairly narrow range owing to the high percentage of old vines. Incidentally, the Bachelet-Monnot '06s were bottled in March of 2008.