2015 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

Winemaker Frédéric Weber provided a detailed overview of the challenges of the 2016 growing season, during which Bouchard Pere & Fils lost 50% of their estate fruit (there’s no Echézeaux in ’16). In addition to the damaging frost, there was strong mildew pressure during springtime. “The climate changed totally after the summer solstice,” he told me, “but some vineyards eventually suffered from drought and the fruit stopped maturing. So at harvest time [Bouchard began harvesting Pinot Noir in his frosted Beaune vineyards on September 21], we generally had to wait for real ripeness but we had to rush to pick some of our sites.” Significant rainfall on September 16 and 17 restarted the maturity process, especially in the plots that were carrying near-normal crop loads. Weber told me that there was no rot but that he had to eliminate the contra-bourgeons, as these grapes were not ripe and had too much acidity. “The berries looked okay but they tasted green,” he explained.

Weber did what he described as a “quiet” maceration for the ‘16s but reduced his use of whole clusters [to about 15% for his Côte de Beaune wines and 25% to 50% for the Côte de Nuits] “due to the stress in the vineyards and the lack of juice.” Happily, color and structure came quickly so he could carry out a relatively cool maceration, with the temperature of the fermentations finishing no higher than 32 or 33 degrees C., which is lower than usual in this cellar. The malos generally finished in March but the wines were still in barrel on their lees when I tasted them in November. Weber noted that the wines were still changing every day, and that some were reduced, which he took as a sign that the élevage was not yet finished.

The balance of the ‘16s is like that of the ‘15s, he told me, but with a bit more acidity; the pHs in ’16 are 3.5 to 3.7, compared to 3.6 to 3.8 for the ‘15s, with some wines from the earlier vintage as high as 3.9. Weber believes that the 2016s will age longer than the ‘15s but also feels that the '16s will give early pleasure at the dinner table. Two thousand fifteen stands out for the great quality for Pinot Noir "from village wines on up," Weber added, noting that the village bottlings are what he would buy because "they're too good." Despite the atypical sucrosité and lowish acidity of the '15s, said Weber, Bouchard has held back a sizable number of bottles "because we think the vintage is great. But the summer was too sunny for it to be a classical vintage, and certain premier and grand crus in 2016 could be better for aging."

“The flowering in 2015 was quick and homogeneous, but there weren’t a lot of grapes,” said winemaker Frédéric Weber in November, adding that production at Bouchard was down about 30% from normal, on average, for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. “The 50 to 60 millimeters of rain we had in mid-June was critical for the clay soil's ability to retain moisture. Then we had good rains at the end of June and in July and August . . . just enough. We kept the leaves in the vineyards, which protected the fruit during the heat wave in early July. Then August temperatures were more normal and we didn’t have relentless sunshine. In the end, we got true maturity in 2015, rather than concentration through dehydration.”

Bouchard started harvesting "slowly" on September 2 and picked through the 13th, with potential alcohol levels in the Pinots ranging from 13.5% to 14.5%. “The skins were thick and dark and the color stained the hands,” said Weber. “There wasn’t a lot of juice and the seeds were brown. We had our healthiest grapes since 2005, with no disease, and the most important thing was the quality of the skin tannins."

Weber reduced his use of whole clusters but carried out long macerations “mostly through infusion,” doing one pigeage per day only during the first five to eight days of the fermentations. The last 10 or 15 grams per liter of sugar were finished in the barrels in early November. And the malos mostly finished between April and June. Only a couple wines had been racked by my November visit and Weber noted that the 2015s were never reduced. In fact, he finds that the wines have been gaining in energy and crispness (the whites too!) since the end of the summer, especially those from the Côte de Beaune, and he will likely bottle the wines between February and April of 2017. “It’s a very good vintage,” he concluded, “but it’s too soon to say that it’s great.” His confidence level is highest with the estate wines, which he nonetheless believes were more consistent in quality in 2009 and 2005, as some vineyards suffered from drought in 2015 or were picked too early. (“Some Volnay grapes ripened very quickly at the end; the bunches got dry very quickly.") But the 2015s are sweeter and more concentrated, he added.