2015 Chambertin Grand Cru

Christophe Perrot-Minot's top Gevrey grand crus are off-the-charts outstanding in 2015 and yet he believes that Vosne-Romanée was the most favored village, weather-wise, owing to having received “more frequent tiny rains to refresh the vines.” But he admitted that if any grilled grapes had to be eliminated in 2015, they were likely from the north side of Nuits-Saint-Georges or southern section of Vosne-Romanée. Still, even Perrot-Minot’s ripest ‘15s are wonderfully vibrant, showing as much red as black fruit character. “It’s hard to find a year with the combination of high sugars, fresh fruit, minerality and finesse that we have in 2015,” he summarized. “The 2015s will be long agers.”

Perrot-Minot harvested from September 3 through 13, with potential alcohol levels ranging from 12.9% to 13.4%, and an average yield of 30 hectoliters per hectare. The challenge, he said, “was to be careful not to extract too much tannins, as in 2005.” He went on: “For me, the most important thing was the pressing; it had to be short and gentle.” Perrot-Minot keeps the very fine lees but never includes any press wine, as he’s afraid of adding a vegetal component to his wines.

For similar reasons, he has recently adopted the painstaking practice of removing--and discarding--the main stalks of the stems (the tiges) by hand. But he vinifies with the peduncles (the tiny "branches" of the stems). “The stems brought a lot of freshness to the 2015s,” he explained, "but the tiges would have had the effect of raising pHs. The peduncles contribute a wide aromatic spectrum.” He carried out a maximum of four pigeages per cuvée and is aging his 2015s in roughly 20% new oak across the board (he uses his barrels a maximum of three times and then sells them off).