2023 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

“In April, we realized there was a disparity between villages in terms of the water,” Frédéric Drouhin tells me in their tasting room. “We had frost in Chablis on the night of April 3. May was variable in terms of rainfall with a little hail on Morey-Saint-Denis and Chambolle. Mid-flowering was on June 5 in Meursault and the following day in Côte de Nuits, similar to 2015. The flowering went quickly because it was hot. August was unseasonably autumnal, then it became very hot at the end, between August 18 and 24 when the temperature was 36°C. It was warmer than 2022 by 0.2°C with 130 more hours of sunlight. Disease pressure was maintained with just a little oidium or mildew. On the eve of harvest, the berry analysis was similar to 2019 for the reds and 2018 for the whites. Picking began on September 2 in Côte de Beaune and two days later for the reds. We began the picking at 6:30 a.m. and stopped at midday so that the fruit was not too hot, therefore we had to maintain temperatures using frozen CO2. We had to sort the grapes as there was variability in quality, sometimes within the same vine – some sunburnt bunches, some lacking a bit of ripeness. In the end, we could still do a high proportion of whole cluster, 30-40%. We undertook a three-week alcoholic fermentation. All the reds are now pressed with a vertical press, which is very precise. We mainly use 500-liter casks that keeps the wine a little fresher. Overall, it is a seductive and generous vintage, alcohol levels 13-13.5%, which I expected to be higher. We did quite a long ageing on the lees, more pumping over than punching down.”