2005 Côte de Nuits-Villages

Bachelet picked his fruit in 2006 with potential alcohol in the low 12% range, and chaptalized to about 13% to prolong the fermentations. "We need acidity here," he explained. "It's not California." Still, he told me, the sugars in some parcels in 2006 were at least as high as those of the previous year, when very dry conditions resulted in a blockage of maturity in some sites. The 2006 malos ended late (mostly in July and August), and yet the wines were easier to taste than the 2005s were a year ago. Bachelet's obsession with making wines with energy served him very well in 2005, as this looks to be an outstanding vintage here. For his part, Bachelet describes this set of wines as very closed and in need of long aging, but their high quality was clear in November. (A Becky Wasserman selection; importers include Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY; Wines Unlimited, New Orleans, LA; and Vinalia Imports, Camarillo, CA)

As an indication of how cold France was during August of 2006, Bachelet told me he had to heat his cellar to get the 2005 malolactic fermentations to finish. He probably won't bottle these wines until April of 2007, but he feels that this vintage can easily support a longer elevage. Bachelet was not the only vigneron in Gevrey-Chambertin to tell me that he is finding "a return to acidity" in the wines from this village, as the soils here continue to recover from all the potassium additions made in the '60s and '70s. Incidentally, Bachelet feels that his 2004s are very closed and need a lot of time. He describes these wines as tight and peppery today: "a spicy vintage." About 2005, he went on, "there's not a lot to say, except that we had a bit of drought." And the wines have tightened up, he added, since the temperature of the cellar came down during a cold week at the beginning of November. (A Becky Wasserman selection; importers include Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY; Wines Unlimited, New Orleans, LA; and Vinalia Imports, Camarillo, CA)