2006 Volnay Pitures 1er Cru

Boillot describes 2007 as a fruity year-"a good vintage to drink rapidly." He told me he vinified to make flattering wines, rather than to extract tannins, keeping fermentation temperatures from rising above 30oC and doing very little punching down of the cap. He also picked very early, beginning on August 20, bringing in a small crop of what he described as "ripe grapes, with rot just beginning to appear. We did not have thick skins, and thus we needed to pick before the skins withered and the grapes lost their potential." The higher the sugars went, the more the rot increased, said Boillot, who told me that grape sugars in his Volnay Roncerets and Pommard Jarollieres were 13.5%. The pHs in 2007 were in the 3.48 to 3.55 range-higher than in '06 and '05 but still not particularly elevated. Still, Boillot prefers 2006 for its greater depth. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL) Also recommended: Volnay (86).

According to Lydie Boillot, the various hailstorms in 2006 affected the family's chardonnay vines more than the pinot, and ultimately there was more rot than in 2004, requiring up to 30% of the fruit to be discarded on the sorting table. But potential alcohols were in the healthy 12.5% to 13% range, and no chaptalization was necessary. After the selection, the Boillots will actually bottle a bit less wine than in 2005: 36 hectoliters per hectare, vs. 38 the previous year. The Boillots did no pigeages during fermentation with their 2006 pinots, except for the Pommard Rugiens, relying instead on remontage. But then they were already phasing out pigeage in 2005. According to Lydie, the 2006s show their terroir character more clearly than either the 2005s or 2004s. Incidentally, Boillot has used 50% new oak for the premier crus since 2004, up from 30% before that. "That reflects the taste of our clients," Lydie explained. "They want less extraction and more new oak." (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)