2003 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvée Coeur de Roy

Bernard Dugat told me that 2004 was his 30th anniversary as a winemaker. In recent years he has done less and less punching down of the cap during fermentation. now usually just once a day. Dugat continues to buy more vines when they become available (he recently purchased a tiny parcel of very old vines in Petite Chapelle), although additions tend to be tiny owing to the exorbitant cost of land in the best Gevrey crus. Dugat's 2003s are about as good as this vintage gets. He told me he selected virtually berry by berry with an eye toward eliminating the fruit that was grilled by the sun.

Dugat started harvesting on August 23, picking on the early side to retain acidity. Grape sugars were in the moderate-for-the-vintage 12.5% to 13% range, and most of the village wines and premier crus were lightly chaptalized.Dugat told me that he did not have much of a problem with heat stress due to his high percentage of old vines.Gevrey-Chambertin Evocelles suffered the most, as these vines are planted in rocky ground, with very little soil.Dugat reserved a refrigerated truck in May of 2003, because he knew by then that he'd be picking in the heat of summer and wanted to be sure that he could chill the grapes in order to do some pre-fermentation cold maceration.He acidified his musts lightly, but noted that natural acidity levels were better in the northern part of the appellation, which benefited from some invigorating rainfall in mid-August.He then did less pigeage and remontage than usual, and a shorter cuvaison.Like a number of his neighbors, he expressed the opinion that the young 2003s have been showing more gout de terroir and volume since the springtime.The 2003s were racked in July and were slated to be assembled in December and bottled in January and February.