2004 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes

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)