2015 Pommard 1er Cru

“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.