2004 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

In contrast to his practice in 2004, Frederic Magnien did a relatively long vatting in 2005, including a cold soak lasting seven to ten days and a couple days of post-fermentation maceration. Fred uses stainless steel tanks, while the wines of the family domain (Michel Magnien) are made in concrete vats, which take longer to warm up and cool down. Magnien told me he was not among the earlier pickers in 2005, as he preferred to wait for more phenolic maturity. The pHs were healthy, the yeasts worked well and he was happy with the results of long, steady fermentations. Virtually all the 2005s I tasted had been racked, and none of them included any press wine. Magnien has introduced a couple of premier cru "blends"-sizable cuvees that he believes can be more complete than their individual components. "This saved me from having to select many tiny different lots," he explained. "In the past I tried to explain all the different terroirs to my clients, but nobody cared." Due to space constraints I have omitted notes on Magnien's village wines; the best of them-the Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrees, the Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes and the Morey-Saint-Denis Clos Sorbes-rated scores in the 87-90 range. (A Peter Vezan selection, imported by North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; and Dionysos Imports, Lorton, VA)

Like a number of his colleagues on the Cote d'Or, Frederic Magnien says the best aspect of vintage 2004 was the juice, not the skins or stems. "If you extracted during vinification you could get a richer middle palate; but if you extracted too much, the attack and the end of the wine are green. We did not try to extract something that wasn't there. "As at the family domain (Michel Magnien), he did an extended ten-day cold soak but did not chaptalize. The actual alcoholic fermentation took barely three days, and there was no post-fermentation maceration; as in 2001, Magnien did not really trust the ripeness of the tannins. Magnien added:"In 2003, we did gentle extraction too, but for a different reason. We wanted to avoid the Rhone Valley side of the vintage, which was in the thick skins, not the juice. We vinified to preserve the pinot style. "Magnien, who told me he's more skilled at buying fruit than he is at marketing his wines, offers a growing array of bottlings. I focused on the 2004s from barrel in Burgundy and followed up by tasting a selection of the bottled 2003s chez moi in January. Most of the 2004s had been racked recently and were in tank; Magnien planned to bottle the wines between December and March. (A Peter Vezan selection, imported by North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; and Dionysos Imports, Lorton, VA)