2004 Chambolle-Musigny Village

"The growing season offered very good but dry conditions," noted enologist Francois Millet. "There was high skin ripeness and the drought decreased the amount of juice. In fact, we had even less juice than in 2003, but the fruit retained acidity because the summer was much less hot. The acidity gives a sorbet character to the fruit. It's a very floral vintage. There's a lot of fruit but the vintage is based on structure. It's a bit of a prude as a vintage: the wines are essentially serious." Millet destems but doesn't crush the grapes. And he doesn't like to vinify with whole clusters because he's afraid of "standardizing the wines." (Dreyfus-Ashby, New York, NY; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; Barrique Wines, Chicago, IL; Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN, Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH)

"The coulis-like fruit of 2004 is based on the contrast between cold and heat, between acidity and fruit," said enologist Francois Millet. "We had a cold, rainy, problematic August, then a good September to give us ripeness. The only advantage of August was to preserve acidity, which gives the wine spine, purity, precision. But it's really more minerality than acidity. "Millet told me that the estate tossed out the grapes that had been dried out by the August 23 hail storm in the vineyard rather than in the winery, and even eliminated some berries within bunches. Due to crop thinning in August and the hail storm, yields for most of the estate's 2004s were between 20 and 25 hectoliters per hectare. I asked Millet to compare the young 2004s to the 2001s. "In 2004, we have a minerally acidity, while in 2001 the acid is opposite the fruit; it competes with the fruit. The 2001s are more cerebral, but the 2004s are more transparent:you can see the gravel in the riverbed. "(Dreyfus-Ashby & Co. , New York, NY; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; Barrique Wines, Chicago, IL; Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN, Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH)