2011 Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs

Arnaud Mortet described the 2010 harvest as "very early but not rushed."He began on September 1 but didn't finish until two weeks later."Vines in Chambolle, Clos Vougeot and some village Gevrey parcels that lose acidity quickly due to their deeper soils had to be picked early, but for the rest we had to wait for full phenolic maturity."Grape sugars were generally between 12% and 12.5% and most of the wines were chaptalized by only a half-degree.As Mortet is making more and more using of cordon en royat pruning, which generally limits the number of clusters on each plant, there's very little rot in his vines."And a lot of millerandage in the hillside vines saved the vintage," he told me.Mortet has significantly reduced extraction during vinification since he took over the domain following his father's untimely death, now relying more on pumpovers than punchdowns, and he has also reduced the percentage of new oak used during elevage.For example, he told me that he aged all of his crus in 100% new oak through the 2010 vintage, but cut that percentage to about 60% in 2011, as he felt that his past wines were too "caramelly."Mortet described his 2011s as a cross between 2010 and 2009:"They're more sun-influenced wines than the 2010s, more flattering, but they don't have the same class.Two thousand eleven was certainly a vintage for the colder sites, like Lavaux Saint-Jacques and Chambertin."Mortet's top 2011s showed lovely balance and considerable potential in November.