2018 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

Pulling up in the courtyard at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé amidst heavy drizzle, I was glad to get down into the dry cellars with winemaker François Millet to taste through the 2018s from barrel and 2017s in bottle. First I asked him about the 2018 vintage. "We had some good rain in spring and then after, the rain was below normal. It was dry, but there was not much stress in the vines because of the prior rain. We picked on 30 August [the same day as Clos de Tart, although not the earliest on record as the 2003 was picked from 23 August]. Climatically speaking, 2003 was a violet heatwave, whereas 2018 was warm but mostly dry and so it had a different effect on the vines. It was the same type of heat as in 1976 however that arrived much earlier, in the springtime. There was good sanitary conditions in the vineyard with nice bunches and good average yields around 30hL/ha, a bit less than in 2017, but comfortable for the domaine. It was not easy for those that had several places to pick in different areas: our advantage is that we are focused on just one area. We could pick everything at the same time and anyway, there was nothing to wait for. Picking was over in one week. There was intentionally no punch downs except for Bonnes-Mares, which needed it. We [already] had concentration because of the drought and the high ripeness of skins, not overripe, but I speak in terms of phenolic levels. The colour comes from infusion and pumpovers. It was important to be even more cautious this year because you could easily make "monsters" and then everything would look identical in the cellar. All the wines in 2018 are aged with 30% new oak. We used the cellar's air-conditioning to postpone the malolactic in spring because the barrels at the end of September were still at 18°C, so the malo risked beginning right after the alcoholic fermentation. The malo helps preserve the freshness and clarity in the wines, which was important in 2018 as it is not a mineral-driven vintage. The wines needed childhood. Malo is like puberty."