2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru

Two thousand fifteen was just the third vintage for the young Amélie Berthaut, who told me that due to her limited experience she can’t really put the 2015 into a larger context yet. “Two thousand thirteen was difficult and 2014 was better,” she told me in December. “Two thousand fifteen brought great grapes.” She started harvesting Pinot Noir on September 7, then stopped for several days, eventually picking until September 21, with potential alcohol levels ranging from 12.5% to 13.4%. She maintained that the rain did not compromise grape sugars but resulted in riper skins.

Following a cold soak at 10 degrees C. that lasted three to seven days according to the cuvée, Berthaut did only two or three punchdowns for each wine. She noted that the wines vinified with some vendange entier took longer to ferment, as the whole clusters needed more time to release their sugars. All of the wines except for the estate’s Bourgogne did their malolactic fermentations in barrel, as Berthaut maintains that the greater exchange between the lees and the air brings a micro-oxidation that allows her to skip a sulfur addition.

As I noted last year, as of 2015 all of Berthaut’s wines will be bottled under the Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet label. Her domain consists of her vines at her father’s estate in Fixin (ex-Domaine Berthaut) and an inherited portion of her mother’s vineyards in Vosne-Romanée (Domaine Gerbet). She also offers a number of wines from Gevrey-Chambertin, with her fruit coming through metayage arrangements.