2007 Richebourg Grand Cru

"There were really two choices with pinot noir in 2007," said Mounir Saouma. "You could do quick vinifications and quick malos and privilege the fruit and the attack of the wines, or you could delay everything, leaving the wines on their lees to make them deeper and richer, like we did." Saouma told me his wines began with a lot of fruit and almost aggressive tannins, plus strong acidity, especially those he buys from the Cote de Nuits, and he sulfured his barrels to prevent the malo from happening early. In the end, the secondary fermentations mostly finished in September. "And it was a year in which you had to wait for mature pinot noir grapes despite the risk of rot," he went on. "It was a good thing that we had the experience of 2003." He summarized: "Two thousand six is about sweetness, while 2007 is about freshness. And I prefer both years to 2005, because the fruit of 2005 is less typical for Burgundy."