2017 Puligny-Montrachet Village

“Everyone in Burgundy is smiling again,” Véronique Drouhin began, her own smile undisguised. “The 2017 vintage is the first vintage overseen by our new vineyard manager, Jullien Pallisse. It was warmer and drier than normal, with 200 hours more sunshine than usual. There was a little less rain. February and March were warmer, so bud-break started early. The one problem was the mange Bouchon, which you can’t do much about unless you have chickens. Oïdium was easy to control. April was cold again from the 18th but there was incredible solidarity, with growers helping each other, lighting bales of hay when there was a risk of frost. This was very efficient in obscuring the sunlight the following morning, just for 30 to 60 [crucial] minutes. We also put every candle we could find in the vineyard, except in Chablis. The véraison started at the end of July and finished at the end of August, the Chardonnay starting before the Pinot Noir. There was excellent maturity in the grapes. The acidity is low but there was hardly any malic acidity.”

The harvest kicked off in the Côte de Beaune on September 1 and the Côte de Nuits six days later. Most of the reds underwent a three-week cuvaison, whilst Drouhin practiced less bâtonnage for the whites since they felt that the lees were of good quality. The wines are aged in 30% new oak for most of the whites and reds. Many of the whites were bottled in July 2018, though the top Premier and Grand Crus remain in barrel up until the end of the year.

Tasting through over 40 wines, it is clear that there is much to enjoy courtesy of Drouhin this year, and not only amongst their bevy of Premier and Grand Crus. Their whites are particularly strong and I would single out the Chassagne-Montrachet Embazées, Meursault Charmes and Puligny-Montrachet Village as worthy of serious consideration. The reds also offer their fair share of delights, such as the Beaune Sizies, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru (a blend of three outstanding climats) and a serious Chambolle Les Amoureuses, among the best I encountered.

Although 2017 was a vintage featuring generous yields, “the sometimes high levels of tartaric acidity have given the wines a more tannic impression—an impression of skins,” said Véronique Drouhin in early June. “And thus it’s a vintage that needs to be nourished by its lees.” She expressed the opinion that vines in Santenay and on the Côte Chalonnaise frequently produced too much fruit but my tasting of the family’s whites from the Côte de Beaune indicated that this will be a very successful crop of wines with considerable aromatic precision and complexity. Unlike in past years, I sampled the ‘17s in the cellar, directly from the barrels.