2015 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Jean-Marc Pillot told me that based on the frost in 2016 and the date of the flowering he should have picked on October 3, but in the end he started on September 22 owing to the sustained hot weather from mid-July through mid-September. There were 65 millimeters of rain on September 14, said Pillot, and although the grapes swelled, he maintained that the precipitation was a net positive. Grape sugars began at 12.3% and Pillot chaptalized his lighter cuvées to 13% or a bit higher. Overall, he lost about 70% of his Chardonnay in 2016, and made virtually no Chenevottes or Vergers.

Pillot told me that he finds the '16s less dense as well as less aromatic than the '15s due to the heat and grillure, yet he finds more minerality in the newer crop of wines. "The wines had a bit of a hole in the middle before the malolactic fermentations," he told me, "but they took on more flesh and richness with the malos," which finished between January and April. Pillot showed me his '16s from one-year-old barrels, which he felt would be most representative of the final blends.

As to his 2015s in bottle, Pillot described them as “rich, dense, thick wines with enormous volume.” He believes that they will be best to drink over the next five years. Yes, it was a very sunny year, he told me, but he also stressed that “2003 is my only truly atypical vintage.”

Jean-Marc Pillot’s 2015 crus were among the most minerally examples of their vintage that I tasted this spring—this in addition to their silky, rich textures. They’re about much more than simply varietal fruit. Pillot purchased a second press that enabled him to pick most of his Chardonnay in three days (September 3 through 5), with healthy acidity. Potential alcohol levels ranged from 12.8% to 13.2%, the alcoholic fermentations went quickly (all of the wines finished with under one gram of residual sugar), and the malos were finished by the end of January. The post-malo acidity levels range from 4.1 to 4.3 grams per liter, according to Pillot.

Pillot describes 2015 as a heatwave vintage but noted that the wines are opulent and tasty, with better acidity than the 2009s. With just a couple of exceptions, his maximum yield in 2015 for Chardonnay was a moderate 40 hectoliters per hectare. His top 2015s display the inner-mouth lift to support mid-term aging. For his part Pillot suggests starting to drink them in five years—before the 2014s.

Incidentally, Pillot told me that his Chassagne-Montrachet Les Vergers, Les Vergers Clos Saint Marc, Les Chenevottes, Les Macharelles and Les Champs-Gain were nearly entirely frosted in 2016 but that his Puligny vineyards suffered only minimal damage.