2005 Meursault Les Tillets

Javillier started harvesting chardonnay in 2006 on September 19, bringing in fruit with potential alcohol between 13% and 13.5%. He believes this will be "a very good vintage to drink early with great pleasure, beginning one or two years after the bottling." But the wines have less class than the '05s and '04s, he went on, "and it would be sad to consume the '05s and '04s early." Javillier kept less of the lees in 2006 because he considered them to be less pristine than usual, and he did less batonnage as well. Incidentally, all of the 2005 labels indicate "Cuvee Speciale" because the wines were all bottled on the late side, between January and March of 2007. (A Peter Vezan selection; imported by North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; also imported by Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY)

In recent vintages Javillier has waited until the second February to bottle his wines, but he may begin bottling his 2005s this November, as he believes that this vintage already has plenty of natural richness.The '04s, in contrast, needed longer time on their lees-and a lot of batonnage-to take on enough material to balance their high levels of acidity."But 2004 is a classic vintage, like in the old days," said Javillier.Javillier harvested on the early side in 2005, bringing in a normal crop level, and he told me he was happy to get normal, as opposed to freakishly high, grape sugars.He did no more than four lees stirrings with any batch of wine, as he thought batonnage was unnecessary.Javillier summarized his feeling about 2005 by saying that the vintage offers the complexity of 2002 but with more richness.Javillier practices at least two different vinifications per cuvee; I tasted representative samples of the final blends.(A Peter Vezan selection; imported by North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; also imported by Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY)