2005 Meursault Les Clous

"Our philosophy is to pick chardonnay early," emphasized winemaker Philippe Prost. "This strategy enabled us to save the freshness in 2003 and 2000, and it also allowed us to avoid rot in 2006." Prost described 2006 as "a grower's vintage" in which the Bouchard team did a lot of leaf-pulling in mid-July, which helped to aerate the grapes. Alcohol levels in 2006 were in the high 13.7% to 13.9% range for most of the premier crus, noted Prost, with Meursault a bit higher; the Puligny acids were generally 4.1 to 4.2 grams per liter (or a bit higher than those of 2005), compared to 3.7 or 3.8 for Meursault. Incidentally, Prost is a big fan of 2005. "The wines don't necessarily have great concentration but they have higher dry extract than 2004 or 2002," he explained. This vintage generally brought lower yields in Meursault and Puligny than did 2006 due to low cluster weights, Prost added. (Henriot, Inc., New York, NY) Also recommended: Puligny-Montrachet (85).

Bouchard has now consolidated winemaking operations into a massive new facility between Beaune and Savigny, where all work can be done by gravity and the barrel cellar is a full ten meters underground.New director Stephane Follin-Arbelet noted that, by coincidence, Bouchard owns 130 hectares of vines and functions as a negociant with another 130 hectares; similarly, there are 130 hectares of red vines and 130 of white.According to winemaker Philippe Prost, 2005 was the first vintage since 1989 in which Bouchard picked the chardonnay before the pinot noir."The chardonnay was already thoroughly ripe and balanced, but the pinot still needed more phenolic maturity," he explained."A lot of people picked in the wrong order and made fat whites and acid reds."Still, he noted, Bouchard's starting date of September 21 for the chardonnay was not particularly early by the standards of the vintage.There wasn't a lot of juice in the grapes in 2005, Prost noted."The intense flavors are due to a high skin-to-juice ratio."