2005 Corton Clos Rognet Grand Cru

Jean-Nicolas Meo has a highly successful crop of 2006s in the works, but his considered description of the vintage indicates some ambivalence. "It's a very balanced vintage, with similar analyses to 2005," he began. "Actually, we started with a bit more sugar in 2006 due to low crop levels, and then harvested over a long period, stopping for a while to pick some very ripe chardonnay. But the pinots are a little less concentrated than the 2005s and therefore they were more aggressive at the beginning. After the malos, we got somewhat higher pHs, which have compensated for the lower density of the wines and made them more approachable. Still, the density and concentration of material are not at the level of great years like 2005 and 2002. But 2006 has all the elements to age well." I found the 2006s to be quite ripe, even chocolatey, in November; they may have been flattened out a bit by having been recently racked. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; also represented by Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs, imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY and Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA)

"Two thousand five is a great vintage, no question about it," said Jean-Nicolas Meo. "There's a silkiness to the wines that might not be obvious today. And they're also a bit more acidic than I expected a year ago, which will push back their period of optimum drinkability. The vintage will evolve very slowly but I don't expect the wines ever to close up completely." Meo went on: "We had some rain during the week of September 5, and another 20 millimeters early the following week. The vineyards immediately took on water, and we lost 0.5 degrees of potential alcohol in one week. The good weather returned on September 16 or 17 and we started picking on the 16th. But we quickly stopped for four days because we figured out that the grapes needed more ripeness. And of course the weather forecast at that point was very favorable." Meo ultimately produced his smallest crop level to date with the exception of 2003, due in large part to losses from hail in May: 17 hl/ha for Brulees and Cros Parantoux, 21 for Richebourg and 25 for Clos Vougeot. Incidentally, Meo told me he did not experiment with including some stems in the vinification for fear of getting wines with "too much structure." (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; also represented by Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs, imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY and Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA)