2005 Chassagne-Montrachet Clos Saint-Marc

Pillot chilled his cave for the alcoholic fermentations, keeping the temperature of the wines from exceeding 73oF.The result was sugar fermentations that dragged on until early May, the latest ever in this cellar.Pillot planned to keep the 2005s in tank from before the 2006 harvest until the end of the year to allow the SO2 to combine with the wines "in a stable way."Pillot compares the 2005s to the 1992s, "but with a refreshing citrus quality on the end."The alcohol levels in the wines range from 12.9% to 13.6%, with a bit of chaptalization.Heat stress kept yields down on the hillsides, noted Pillot, and, with less movement of the sap, there was a deficit of nitrogen, contributing to the difficulty of fermenting a number of wines.All the wines had been sulfited in early June but not yet racked.Interestingly, Pillot is keeping more of the lees now but did not practice batonnage in 2005.He didn't need to, he said, because the wines remained turbid on their own.