2004 Pommard Les Pezerolles 1er Cru

With its share of the Domaine Thomas-Moillard purchase, Domaine de Montille has vastly expanded its portfolio of offerings and planted a flag on the Cote de Nuits. It now owns some Clos Vougeot and a major parcel of Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts, including a small enclave within what appears to be La Tache on the vineyard map of Burgundy but which was never actually classified as La Tache. Etienne de Montille, who destemmed much of his fruit in 2004 due to hail, vinified most of his wines in 2005 with whole clusters. "I started here in 1983 and it's the most perfect fruit I've ever seen," he told me in November. "If you couldn't vinify with stems this year, then when?" While long-time admirers of this domain may need to acclimate themselves to wines made via vendange entier, the results speak for themselves, and this vintage is likely to be long-lived. Two thousand four is markedly different. "This vintage is atypical of Montille," said Etienne. "They're wines that will be pleasurable to drink early, so take advantage of that." (Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY; Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; Veritas, Beverly Hills, CA)

Etienne de Montille was one of several winemakers on the Cote de Beaune who were still mystified by the effects of the late August hail storm in 2004. "The effect of the hail was different in '04 than in '01," he said. "In 2001 it delayed the ripening process, and the vineyards never caught up. But it was the opposite in 2004:it accelerated and concentrated the ripeness. We actually had higher sugars in 2004 than in 2003. For the moment at least, we don't have an answer to the question of why the hail had this kind of effect. "I tasted a few of the young 2004s from cuve, as the wines that finished their malos by March were racked in October and moved to stainless steel to preserve freshness of fruit. "The racking has brought finesse and precision to the wines," said Montille, who destemmed all of his fruit from vineyards affected by hail (the Volnays and the Pommard Rugiens) and did a gentle extraction. Montille's 2003s boast outstanding volume and mouthfilling texture without heaviness.