1999 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles en Foule

Bernard Dugat, who carries out every possible step to control yields and benefits from a high percentage of very old vines, is normally in a position to harvest early, with sound sugars. His low yields in '99 allowed him to begin on the first legal day and to pick in five days flat, finishing just as rain started late on September 23rd. Grape sugars were in the very healthy 12.5% range, about the same as those of the previous year, with pHs a bit higher. Dugat took his wines off their skins relatively quickly after the alcoholic fermentations ended to prevent bacteria from multiplying ("I didn't want the malolactic fermentations to begin in cuve ") and to preserve the wines' acidity. These '99s, which Dugat describes as "vins de garde to begin drinking after at least five years in bottle," are quite powerful but a bit more pliant than the wines made at this address just a few years ago. Dugat told me he has done less pigeage since the '97 vintage and generally avoids "technique" as much as possible. Although he did up to 10% saignee for the village parcels in '99, he eschews this method, pointing out that in the parcels he works via metayage arrangements, this would result in significant financial sacrifice. By this, I assume he means that he must deliver the previously agreed-on percentage of the crop to the vineyard owner, and that if he bleeds the cuve he is reducing only his share of the crop.