2005 Echézeaux Grand Cru

Regis Forey clearly prefers 2006 to the fruitier 2007 vintage for its greater structure, flesh and power. Still, he admits, "it was necessary to do your work in the vines in 2006." Forey removed some leaves in late July, and he believes that this step helps explain why he had very little rot at harvest time. Ultimately he brought in an average yield, and most of his cuvees were not chaptalized. "It's a classic pinot vintage with good normal acidity. The tannins are not green-peppery like the '04s. And because the tannins are not big, the wines will be approachable fairly quickly." Following late malos, none of the wines had been racked in November. Incidentally, Forey told me he did three or four batonnages, with the last one taking place in September. He does this to "soften and enrobe" his wines, but is careful not to do so much lees stirring that he risks oxidizing them.

"Two thousand five will be a very good vintage thanks to its lovely structure and sweetness," says Regis Forey, who had already moved a few of his wines to cuve by mid-November for fear of losing the fruit. He was planning to move the rest within the following week or two. Forey finds more "sweetness and roundness and pleasure" in the 2005s than in the '99s, which he described as drier and harder. On the other hand, he believes that the 2005s will shut down in bottle, "unlike the '85s and '93s." Forey does a fairly extractive vinification: following a week-long cold soak, he punches down the cap three times a day until the alcoholic fermentation is well underway, then generally does one punch-down and one pump-over daily until the sugars have been converted. He then does five or six days of further maceration, for a total of about 25 days of maceration in 2005. But in 2005, the strong material could support that approach, and the wines noted below are 12.8% to 13.5% alcohol without chaptalization. Incidentally, Forey used no new oak for his villages wines except for the Vosne-Romanee, one-third of which was aged in new 500-liter barrels.