2000 Chambertin

Winemaker Claire Forrestier began working with then-winemaker Roland Masse in 1999 and took over here when Masse was hired to make the wines for the Hospices de Beaune. The Domaine Bertagna owns 20 hectares, 5 of them in Vougeot. Forrestier bottled the '99 crus without fining or filtration. In 2000 and again in 2001 she did a week-long cold maceration to extract color, then a long fermentation up to as high as 35oC, then let the tanks sit for another week or so at about 30o Most of the 2000s I tasted had been racked before the 2001 harvest. These are supple, attractive wines but several seemed a bit simple and soft. Still, I marginally prefer the 2000s vinified by Forrestier, for their finesse and sweeter tannins, to the '99s made by Masse, despite the fact that '99 is a generally stronger vintage. All of which is to say that Forrestier is a winemaker to watch.