2008 Beaune Grèves 1er Cru

No 2008s were yet in bottle at the time of my mid-November visit to Joseph Drouhin, and the grand crus were still in barrel, unracked. Philippe Drouhin describes the vintage as "a tiny crop with very good structure and potential." The family started thinning the fruit in late July to increase the speed of ripening during late summer. There was botrytis in August in the early-ripening vineyards, he told me, and these grapes were carefully eliminated. In any event, rot was more of an issue at harvest time than underripe grapes, and grape sugars were "good to very good." The acidity levels in the wines are higher than in 2009, 2007 or 2006, added Veronique Drouhin, who told me that the '08s resemble the 1978s in their high acids and slow malos. "In comparison," she added, "1996 was a drier style of wine." (Note that the Drouhin 2007s were reviewed from bottle in Issue 143.)