2009 Chambolle-Musigny Village

There is no better place to learn about the subtleties of Chambolle than in the cellars of Ghislaine Barthod. With one Bourgogne and nine Chambolles, including eight 1er Crus, Barthod's wines run the gamut from the delicate to the virile, all within the confines of this tiny village. Every wine I tasted during my recent visit was impeccable. I can't recommend the wines of this small, family-run domaine highly enough. Barthod was the first grower to pick in Chambolle. She started on September 8 with the goal of trying to maintain as much freshness as possible. The wines came in with around 13% natural alcohol. The fruit was 100% destemmed. I also tasted a handful of 2008s, a vintage defined by striking aromatics and plenty of energy. The fruit was harvested much later than in 2009, beginning on September 26 and finishing on October 4.

Ghislaine Barthod was quick to credit husband Louis Boillot for convincing her to harvest early in 2009. "He was in the vines tasting the fruit, and he said it was time to harvest," she explained. "If the weather is nice and the forecast is good, growers figure it's okay to wait, but it's not. In 2009, the sugars rose too quickly." Barthod began on September 7, bringing in fruit with potential alcohol between 12.5% and 13% and chaptalizing lightly. In fact, she told me, "we were among the last in the village to pick in 2008 and the first in 2009." Barthod noted that yields averaged a reasonable 38 hectoliters per hectare in 2009, as the hail that affected Chambolle and Morey in May limited the crop-" a very good thing in 2009." The malos here were earlier than usual, with some wines finishing before Christmas and the rest in March and April; they were racked in early September. Barthod thought the wines were "a bit warm" before the malos but are gaining in freshness and precision in barrel. "It's a very good but not a great vintage," she offered, "with very fine tannins, excellent length and a lot of shoulders. This style should age well. But 2008 is more classic: the wines remind me of an earlier generation, when we picked later."