1997 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

On my annual visit to the Chateau de Chambolle-Musigny, I found myself discussing the then-recent Egyptair disaster and its possible causes with Jacques-Frederic Mugnier, who is a professional pilot when he not running his Burgundy domain. I asked Mugnier which of his jobs was easier, making wine or piloting an aircraft. "It's much easier to fly a plane," was his response. Mugnier is more willing to take risks when plotting the best harvesting strategy. "I have better acidity levels in my vineyards than most of my neighbors due to relatively low potassium levels in the soil, and therefore I need to wait in order to get low enough acidity. So usually I'm one of the last in the village to pick, which is always a gamble. But late harvesting paid off with the very small crop of '98." Mugnier describes the '98s as attractive, serious, balanced wines, with good concentration but no aggressiveness. Along with the '97s, he added, they are more sensual wines, while the '96s are more intellectual. But, he asks, "will the '96s give more pleasure?" Mugnier made just 33 barrels of wine in '98, compared to 50 in '97 and 75 in '96. x000D x000D x000D x000D Mugnier shortened his cuvaison from 21 to 16 days in '98, keeping the most active part of the fermentation relatively cool to extract color and softer tannins, then raising the temperature for the last few days and decuving quickly. "In the old days, before temperature control," he explained, "high-temperature fermentations gave great mouth feel but often at the expense of primary fruit, while extended macerations brought about greater extraction but risked losing color." (A Becky Wasserman selection; importers include Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY; Glazers Wholesale, Dallas, TX; Esquin Imports, San Francisco, CA)

"Two weeks before the 1997 harvest, the juice was ripe but the skins tasted vegetal," reports Mugnier, adding that the acids were already low. "We decided to pick late, and ended up with the highest sugars ever measured at the domain" (one cuvee of Chambolle Amoureuses was 13.7% after fermentation without chaptalization). He concludes: "1997 is the opposite of '96: the wines will be drunk early with great pleasure." Mugnier enologist wanted him to acidify his musts, but Mugnier took this approach only with a couple barrels of Chambolle Fuees and did not like the results. Some of the malos finished extremely early, in vat, but the wines were kept on their lees until the first racking, after the 1998 harvest. Mugnier told me he wasn't too sure of the concentration level of his '96s at the beginning, but that the wines are rich and fresh now. I found them clearly superior to the estate '95s. (A Becky Wasserman selection; importers include Martin Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY; Glazers Wholesale, Dallas, TX; Esquin Imports, San Francisco, CA)