2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune La Dominode 1er Cru

This topnotch estate in Savigny-lès-Beaune was situated at one of the epicenters of frost in 2017, with the Pavelots losing 80% of their grapes overall, but even more in some sites (they will not bottle any Serpentières or Lavières). Happily, 2017 brought a full crop, including 45 barrels of La Dominode, compared to 9 in 2016, 26 in Les Guettes (vs. 6) and 23 in Les Gravains, vs. 5.

The Pavelots started harvesting in 2016 on September 22, with grape sugars between 12% and 12.5%; Hugues Pavelot noted that the small amount of fruit from the second buds wasn’t far behind the first buds in ripeness. He destemmed all of his fruit, chaptalized about half a degree, and was careful to avoid overextraction. Pavelot routinely carries out a pre-fermentation cold soak lasting three or four days, then does three punchdowns per day during the beginning of the fermentation. He describes his wines' total time on their skins as fairly short but added that he often does a day or three of post-fermentation maceration “to polish the tannins.” Pavelot had bottled his négociant wines before my January visit but his estate wines were still in tanks. He reported that they had gained in sucrosité since November.

As to 2015, Pavelot finds the earlier year to be “a great vintage with specificity, even if it’s dominated by the vintage. The wines are rich and expressive but they may close up a bit; they should be lovely in another three or four years.” Yields were also quite low in ’15, averaging just 26 or 27 hectoliters per hectare for the estate’s premier crus in Savigny-lès-Beaune, and the finished wines are carrying around 13.5% alcohol, with only a couple of them lightly chaptalized. Certainly the solaire style of the vintage has imbued these wines with greater generosity and earlier personality than usual. And they are deeper than the ‘16s.

Hugues Pavelot carried out what he described as a normal extraction in 2015, with two pigeages per day during the first part of the fermentation, but the total cuvaison was a bit shorter than usual. “The purpose was to conserve freshness,” said Pavelot, who harvested from September 3 through 7 at 12.9% potential alcohol and up. Production was just 20 to 30 hectoliters per hectare for the estate, close to that of 2014, with the Savigny Les Guettes lowest at 20. The malolactic fermentations finished early, and all of the wines were in cuves at the time of my December tasting (Pavelot planned to bottle in January and February).

Pavelot compares 2015 to recent warm, dry years like 2009 and 2005. But he added that the ‘15s are riper and tastier than the ’09s and less tannic than the ‘05s.