2013 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

According to Michel Coutoux, who now runs his father-in-law Michel Neillon's domain, 2014 was "an easy growing season followed by easy alcoholic and malolactic fermentations." Yields were "correct" and similar to those of the previous year, and potential alcohol levels were generally between 12.2% and 12.7%, with most of the wines lightly chaptalized. But Coutoux seemed more interested in talking about the 2013s, which he loves for their tension. He finds the wines higher in acidity as well as more taut and minerally than the 2014s, describing the '13s as "a little like the 2010s: strict and linear but with enough material and good structure."

These wines are always fermented with wild yeasts and Coutoux does not do a débourgage. "We begin with a lot of lees but never heavy lees," said Coutoux, "and we don't do any stirring." He added that the wines still have about six liters of lees per barrel at the time of the July racking.

Michel Niellon started harvesting in 2013 on September 28 "as the fruit was quickly degrading," said son-in-law Michel Coutoux, who also told me that most of the family's crus are now about 13.2% alcohol following chaptalization of up to a degree and a half. Average crop levels were in the healthy 50 to 55 hectoliters-per-hectare range. Surprisingly, Coutoux describes the young 2013s as wines to drink after the 2012s, which he describes as rather delicate: "low in acidity and very easy to drink; it's not a great vintage here like 2010 in spite of the small crop load." Still, he extracted more in 2012 owing to the tiny crop "because no rot was present at the beginning of the harvest."