2016 Puligny-Montrachet Village

Assistant winemaker Benoît Riffault told me that Domaine Sauzet was lucky to mostly avoid the frost in Puligny-Montrachet in 2016, but added that "we had significant mildew pressure and the growing season required a lot of work in the vines." Grape sugars were slightly lower than in 2017, mostly between 12.8% and 13.2%, and the estate did very little chaptalization. Still, Riffault said, “the raw material in 2016 was good—a classic average vintage in the spirit of Burgundy—but not exceptional like the ripe, dense, balanced, cleanly delineated ‘17s.” He considers the ‘16s to have a bit less structure than the ‘17s and does not believe the earlier set of wines is for long aging. He compared them to the “precocious” 2011s, which he says are very fresh today. As we tasted through the ‘16s, Riffault noted that he found the wines rather closed—“not as fruity as they were at the beginning.”

Gérard Boudot, who made a bit more than half a crop in 2016, told me it’s hard to compare this vintage with an earlier year. “Maybe a fatter version of 2007 for some estates,” he offered. “But there’s a huge disparity between cuvées in 2016 due to the frost. Some wines will be best early for their fruit but the rest should be normal mid-term agers—up to 12 years. The ripeness is not exceptional and the wines are not especially aromatic today, but they are solid, not fragile, and the acidity is good.” Boudot did very little chaptalization beyond his Puligny-Montrachet La Garenne, and limited the percentage of new oak for his premier crus to about 22%. He planned to rack his ‘16s in July but won’t bottle anything until January—and later for his top crus.

The 2015s, in contrast, “have the fruit to give early pleasure but will probably be good at every stage. The wines are easy but I don’t mean that pejoratively and the terroirs come through. The grapes were golden without surmaturité and there was nothing to eliminate on the sorting table. The wines are not especially intellectual but neither will they need long aging.” Boudot considers the vintage to be outstanding, noting that the 2009s were “more marked by their vintage." Incidentally, he told me that he's drinking wines earlier for their fruit as he gets older.