Château de PULIGNY-MONTRACHET (Puligny-Montrachet) -- 2016 Whites Tasted from Barrel and Tank Samples

(Originally published 23 February 2018)

Although a separate label, everything here is operated under Etienne de Montille and his team.

Harvesting began on 17 September. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de MONTILLE (Meursault) 2016 Part III -- Côte de Beaune Whites Tasted from Barrel and Tank Sample

(Originally published 27 February 2018)

Information on vintage conditions is here. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de MONTILLE (Meursault) 2016 Part II -- Côte de Nuits Reds Tasted from Barrel Samples

(Originally published 27 February 2018)

Information on vintage conditions is here.

This is a small, but impressive, collection of wines. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de MONTILLE (Meursault) 2016 Part I -- Côte de Beaune Reds Tasted from Barrel Samples

(Originally published 26 February 2018)

Harvesting for de Montille and associated Château de Puligny-Montrachet began on 17 September. There was light chaptalization for a couple of cuvées, otherwise none, and no acidification.

The vintage required 13 treatments for mildew and oïdium vs. 8 in 2017.

Overall, the estate was down 20% from a full harvest, but some areas such as Pommard and Beaune, suffered much more seriously. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine FOLLIN-ARBELET (Aloxe-Corton) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel and A Pair of 2015s Tasted from Bottle

(Originally published 4 March 2018)

Franck Follin-Arbelet said that losses from the frost meant that he did only about 30-35% of a full harvest. The harvesting began on 22 September. There was no red Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru in 2016, and the Aloxe-Corton and  Aloxe-Vercots also suffered badly. However,  following on the frost, there were no problems with mildew, and as a result, there was no need to do a triage. Whole clusters were used in about 10-20%, he said, but more for volume than anything else. 

Malolactic fermentations were late, many finishing in spring, but others dragged on until September.

As usual, there is very good quality here, and the best values probably come from the premier cru wines. The wines show the freshness of the vintage, a contrast to the 2015s where it is the power and ripeness that dominate. (Continue reading here.)

BOUCHARD Père & Fils (Beaune) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel and Tank Samples and from Bottle Part III -- Whites

(Originally published 11 March 2018)

Bouchard generally harvested the Chardonnays after the Pinot Noirs in 2016. More on vintage conditions is located here. 

Malolactic fermentations generally were a little later than usual because the cold winter of 2016-17 cooled the cellar. As a rule, they began between January and March and finished in mid-June. Barrels were rolled (bâtonnage) two or three times.

As with other top white producers, the wines are very good here and worthy of your interest. (Continue reading here.)

BOUCHARD Père & Fils (Beaune) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel Samples Part II: Côte de Nuits Reds

(Originally published 9 March 2018)

Details on the vintage are here. (Continue reading here.)

BOUCHARD Père & Fils (Beaune) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel and Tank Samples Part I: Côte de Beaune Reds

(Originally published 19 March 2018)

Harvesting began on 21 September; it finished, on the Côte de Nuits, on 6 October. The grapes were in excellent health, but triage was needed nonetheless to eliminate those second and third generation grapes that had not fully ripened. Overall, crop was 50% off a full vintage, the smallest since 2003; in addition to the frost, mildew seriously held down the crop, and in some areas vines were blocked by the drought in the second half of the summer. 

Vinification varied according to the level of yields. Where there were low yield vines and concentrated grape bunches, maceration was eight to ten days and the crush was moderated to limit extraction. Where yields were normal and bunches larger, the maceration was ten to thirteen days. There was no pigeage (punching down).

For the red wines, malolactic fermentations generally were early.

Beginning with the 2016 vintage, Bouchard will have a new label. Instead of the current label, which is quite individual and therefore easily identifiable at a distance, the new one is understated and almost generic in appearance. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Denis MORTET/Arnaud MORTET (Gevrey-Chambertin) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel Part II: Grand Crus

(Originally published 1 April 2016)

There has been an amazing expansion of grand cru offerings here — no longer just the Chambertin and the Clos de Vougeot, there are now at least seen different wines (although the Echézeaux won’t be commercialized in 2016 because production was so low; it is from the same parcel that Christophe Roumier now is making wine from). (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Denis MORTET/Arnaud MORTET (Gevrey-Chambertin -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel Part I: Regional, Village, and Premier Cru Wines

(Originally published 1 April 2018)

Arnaud Mortet said that he began harvest on 23 September. Over the summer, he did some green harvesting in order to homogenize the maturity of the grapes. Overall, the maturity was very good, with the grapes coming in at 12.5-13.5º natural alcohol. There was a very small bit of chaptalization. Arnaud noted that the tannins were of hight quality.

Overall, the estate lost 45% from a full harvest. The vineyards most seriously affected were the premiers and grands crus. 

Arnaud said that he used a fair amount of whole clusters in the wines (e.g., 30% in the grands crus) in contrast to 2017, where he used little due to the lower acidities of the wines. 

Malolactic fermentations generally finished in June and July, not terribly late for this cellar which is quite cold.(Continue tasting here.)

Domaine Denis MORTET/Arnaud MORTET (Gevrey-Chambertin) -- 2015s Tasted from Bottle

(Originally posted 1 April 2018)

These and other 2015s from Mortet are reviewed from cask here. The quality of the wines is uniformly excellent. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Denis MORTET/Arnaud MORTET (Gevrey-Chambertin): 2015 Tasted from Barrel

(Originally published 25 May 2017)

Arnaud Mortet said that he began harvesting on 3 September. He was one of the lucky ones, with overall yield of about 40 hl/ha. (2016 will be much lower because Mortet has significant holdings in areas that were hit by the 27 April 2016.) Arnaud said that he had no problem with the drought over the summer, a prime cause of low yields at other estates, because he works the soil very deep, encouraging the wines to go down, and then stopped working the soil early. Maturities were the highest ever for the estate with potential alcohols in the range of 12.5-13.6/7º. He used a fair amount of whole clusters in the vinification. Malolactic fermentations finished between March and June, which is not late for this estate.

The trend here to less use of whole clusters and less new oak continues, adding freshness and elegance to the wines.

Mortet fans will be happy that the number of offerings has increased in significant ways with new premiers and grands crus in recent years, but those mindful of price will still find good village wines at lower prices.

I found these wines less easy to judge than usual, and it is possible that they are underrated here. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Tempier (2017 Migoua and Cabassaou barrel samples, 2014) and Domaine de la Laidière (2014 and 2015 Bandol)

In 2016, Tempier purchased Domaine de la Laidière, a 20-ha estate. Lucien Peyraud, one of the pioneers of the appellation, had always considered the estate excellent. Daniel Ravier, who now is in charge of running the Tempier estate, had begun working with Laidière a few years prior to the purchase. 

Laidière had been know in particular for its white and rosé wines, an indication of the fresher terroirs of its vines, important given global warming. 2018 will be the first vintage that the grapes enter into Domaine Tempier’s wines. But I tasted the reds from 2014 and 2015 (Tempier purchased the existing stocks and so now is marketing them) and also was able to taste the 2014 Tempier cuvée classique for comparison.

In addition, on my visit to the estate last month, I was also able to taste the 2017 La Migoua and Cabassaou from barrel sample. The Tourtine was being bottled that day, and so was not available, and I also did not have a chance to taste the 2017 cuvée . 2017 was a very dry vintage, with harvesting from 28 August to 12 September. Quantities are low — 16 hl/ha overall — and the quality looks to be excellent.

2018 is a vintage with plenty of mildew, thereby seriously restricting production. Harvesting was quite long, from 27 August to 25 September. Other than the rosé (reviewed in the previous post), I did not taste the 2018s, but expect early-drinking wines.  (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Tempier -- Current Release Wines: 2018 and 2017 rosé, 2016 reds, 2017 white

I’ve been tasting newly-released Tempiers for each of the past forty years, and I can’t recall wines quite like the 2106 reds.These wines are more tannic and backward than I can recall for young Tempier. The wines were always drinkable young, even if they had plenty of potential for improvement, but this vintage really is for the future, especially the special cuvée wines.

Notably, the estate is now using large ovals made by the excellent Stockinger firm in Austria. For southern French wines, I have found no cooperage that comes anywhere close to Stockinger.

Tempier is now biodynamic. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine La Bastide Blanche -- Current Release Bandols

One of the top Bandol estates, offering quality across the board. The estate follows organic and biodynamic principles. (Continue reading here.)