2016 Côte de Nuits-Villages

“I adore the style of the 2016 vintage and prefer it to 2015,” said Denis Bachelet as we began to taste his new set of wines from barrel. He finds the ‘16s tastier while the ‘15s are rather extreme, “showing power and tannic force but lacking finesse and elegance owing to the drought year.” Bachelet started harvesting in 2016 on September 24, with grape sugars in the 12% range. He chaptalized most of his wines lightly. Bachelet lost about 25% of his Charmes-Chambertin production to frost but the rest of his vineyards were barely touched. But he added that he had to treat continuously against explosive mildew until as late as August 10.

Bachelet’s is a very pure, fresh style, typically with moderate to lowish pHs (3.45 to 3.5 in both ’16 and ’15); as he brings only a moderate quantity of fine lees into the barrels, his wines are less likely to become reduced during élevage. Bachelet routinely destems his fruit, and as of the 2014 vintage he has reduced the number of pigeages to two a day until the middle of the fermentation (previously he did three punchdowns per day), then only remontages. He planned to bottle his 2016s in March, assembling them in tanks just one day before.