2006 Beaune Clos de la Mousse 1er Cru

Bouchard's harvest on the Cote d'Or normally is carried out over eight to ten days, as the house has a large team of pickers to draw on. But 2007 brought very heterogeneous ripeness, noted winemaker Philippe Prost. "In the early sites we needed to pick quickly, but the cooler sites required us to wait for a long time," he explained. "It was tricky because when we stopped for a day we had to worry about losing our pickers. It was a bad summer, but cool conditions saved the health of the grape bunches." The team started on the Cote de Beaune on August 27, but didn't finish the pinot noir until September 15 on the Cote de Nuits, where grape sugars ended up a bit lower. Still, grand crus like Clos-Vougeot and Bonnes-Mares were not chaptalized. In the end, added Prost, the skins were a bit thicker than they had been in 2006, and there was better purity of fruit. Bouchard's vertical press gives clearer juice, and the wines went into barrel with fewer "vegetal pieces," he went on. "This has allowed us to let the wines age a long time on their fine lees without racking them, since there's less risk that they will lose color. Ultimately, 2007 has more precision of fruit than 2006, some of which display dusty earth tones."

Bouchard began harvesting its chardonnay on September 18, but waited three more days before beginning the pinot harvest in Volnay Caillerets and Beaune Greves. According to winemaker Philippe Prost, there were no problems with rot in the estate vineyards, as the team pulled leaves in mid-July and also kept the cluster counts down. Although cluster weights were higher than those of 2005, they were still in the modest 100 to 105 gram range, and no saignee was done in 2006. Prost told me that the team eliminated some rotten and green grapes, as well as some dried grapes in hail-affected vineyards like Clos de Beze and Chapelle-Chambertin. He crushed the fruit only gently, which he says allows for a longer, "quieter" alcoholic fermentation and helps to avoid bitterness at the end of the macerations. Ultimately, said Prost, the wines are generally very healthy, clean and fresh, with good color and good acidity, and tannins that are a bit drier than those of 2005. "What some wines are missing is a bit of texture and concentration," he said. "The hierarchy of vineyards is very important in terms of richness and complexity."