Please see here for part I of my notes on Lignier’s 2018 wines and background on vintage conditions.
Hubert LIGNIER (Morey-Saint-Denis) -- 2018 Part I: Regional and Village Wines Tasted from Barrel and Tank Samples
(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in the Côte d’Or here.)
Laurent Lignier said that he began harvesting 4 September, and finished on 12 September.
He performed 5-6 days of pre-fermentation maceration and light extraction — more pumping over (remontage) and not much punching down (pigeage). For inspiration, in 2003 the estate didn’t do any punching down, and Laurent likes the 2003s today.
Malo-lactic fermentations were mostly done between November and mid-December, a few went into beginning of year. All of the malos began after the alcoholic fermentations. The great majority of the wines include 30% whole clusters, the highest proportion Laurent has ever done; he did this to preserve freshness and elegance and elegance in the wines.
With respect to alcohols, the Gevrey-Chambertin, La Justice at 13.1º is the lowest; the Bourgogne Grand Chaillot at 14.7º is the highest. (The Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru La Riotte is only other other wine above 14º). As other producers noted, the grapes moved very fast in ripeness, gaining 3º of potential alcohol in two weeks. Most of the wines are in the mid-13º range.
Laurent has been doing a magnificent job at this estate and the tricky 2018 vintage is just another example.
Beginning with 2019, the estate is certified organic.
Domaine Georges MUGNERET-GIBOURG (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2017 Tasted from Bottle
My notes on the 2017s tasted from barrel at Mugneret-Gibourg are here.
As is evident from these notes compared to my previous post, 2017 is a vintage at this estate more to my style than 2018.
Domaine Georges MUGNERET-GIBOURG (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel
(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in the Côte d'Or here.)
Although quantities are good in 2018, they will go down again in 2019 — lacking 40%, and so comparable to 2016(!).
Although quantities are good in 2018, they will go down again in 2019 — lacking 40%, and so comparable to 2016(!).
Harvesting began on 4 or 5 September. There is some whole cluster fruit in the Echézeaux only.
There was a bit of a gap between the end of the alcoholic fermentations and the beginning of the malo-lactic fermentations, but the latter were done by December. Alcohols range from 13.5º to 14.2º.
The percentage of new oak is 20% for the Bourgogne, 30% for the village wines, 40-45% for the premiers crus, and 60-80% for the grands crus — the normal percentages here.
Here one can see the rapid progression of the ripening at the time of harvest — some wines are in a more classic style, others go to a riper style.
With the reclamation of vines that had been sharecropped, the estate now is 8 ha, as opposed to 6 ha about ten years ago.
Domaine Robert CHEVILLON (Nuits-Saint-Georges) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel and a 2017 Tasted from Bottle
Please see my overview of the vintage here.
Bertrand Chevillon said that in Cailles, Vaucrains, and Les Saint-Georges, losses from hail were about 20-30% with Les Saint-Georges being the worst hit.
Harvesting began on 5 September and finished around 14-15 September. Alcohols are around 14º with 14.2º at the maximum. As usual, all grapes were destemmed, 30% new oak. Malo-lactic fermentations finished for the village wine in February and in spring for the premiers crus. Bertrand said that he would bottle as late as possible.
As a group, these wines were on the riper side of the vintage in style, but not over the line for my tastes. (Continue reading here.)
Domaine de la ROMANÉE-CONTI (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2017 Tasted from Bottle
My review of the 2017 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasted from barrel and explanation of the vintage is here.
The most notable fact is the exceptional quality of each of the wines. Should you be lucky enough to have access to and means to afford these wines, you don’t have to go for Romanée-Conti or La Tâche to experience the top greatness of Burgundy here. Each wine is in its proper place, although there is the unusual inversion of personalities of Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg that I observed already last year.
Domaine de la ROMANÉE-CONTI (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel
(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in Burgundy here.)
It was a roller-coaster growing season for everyone in Burgundy, but magnified in Vosne-Romanée where there was the most serious mildew pressure of recent years (but virtually no mildew in adjacent Flagey-Echézeaux or at Corton). There was some roasting of grapes in August in Vosne as a result of the mildew, and so those grapes were removed through sorting in the vineyards and again when the grapes came in to be crushed.
By mid-August, sugar levels of the grapes were already showing maturity, but the phenolic ripeness wasn’t there, and so the harvest waited. The vines were in a better position than in 2003, however, because there were better groundwater reserves to provide resistance to the heat. With hot, but not overly hot, weather the last ten days of August, the ripening accelerated, and on 31 August, the harvesting began at Corton, the first time the Domaine had harvested in August since 2003.
On 3 September, the harvesting began in Vosne with Richebourg, then in order Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Romanée-Conti (on 8 September, the day after a small storm the previous night), Grands-Echézeaux, Echézeaux, and La Tâche (finishing on 12 September). The Montrachet was harvested on 7 September. As mentioned above, there was a sorting of the grapes.
Yields ranged from 18 hl/ha for Romanée-Conti to 32 hl/ha for Grands-Echézeaux and 35 hl/ha for Corton. For Montrachet, I do not have a precise figure, but Aubert de Villaine’s vintage summary described the quantities as those “which we have not seen for some time”, keeping with what many other white producers experienced.
The vintage summary (dated 15 October 2018) also describes the wines as having the fruit of 2015 and the ripeness of 2003.
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