Wine Spectator – September 30, 2019

68 WINE SPECTATOR • SEPT. 30, 2019

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“The style of white in ’17 for me is between 2015, with its high

expression of maturity and generosity, and 2014, with a beautiful

acidity and tension,” says Bouchard Père & Fils winemaker Fré-

déric Weber, who made six outstanding wines from the vintage.

In my own tastings, I found a lushness about the 2017s, with

plenty of floral, peach and citrus flavors enhanced by pastry, but-

terscotch and spice notes from the barrel fermentation and aging.

These are open and inviting wines, yet there’s structure as well—

it’s just hidden by the opulence and flesh. The ’17s also reflect their

origins, with those from poor, stony soils revealing austerity and

steely profiles, while those from heavier soils with more clay offer

greater body and generosity.

In 2016, an unusual twist of fate was dealt to Montrachet and

the surrounding vineyards. Frost, uncommon for grands crus sites

that enjoy the best exposures on the slopes of the Côte de Beaune,

destroyed a significant part of the crop. Undaunted, Jean-Claude

Ramonet and his team rose to the challenge, producing one of the

wines of the vintage. Plush and harmonious, the Ramonet Mon-

trachet 2016 (98 points on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale, $1,750)

is a tour de force, featuring lime blossom, peach, apple, honey and

buttered pastry aromas and flavors. The finish goes on and on,

echoing the fruit, floral and toasty oak elements, all tied together

with vibrant acidity.

“The real challenge was the vineyard which had some difficul-

ties evolving correctly after the frost,” explains Ramonet. “For ex-

ample, [our] Montrachet was hit at 50 percent, Bâtard-Montrachet

and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet at 75 percent, and Chevalier-

Montrachet at 70 percent.”

Close in quality is Ramonet’s discreetly oaked Chevalier-Mon-

trachet 2016 (97, $850), an elegant display of lime blossom, peach,

butter and citronella aromas and flavors. A trio at 96 points in-

cludes two other Chevalier-Montrachets from 2016, the Domaine

Leflaive ($1,037) and Michel Niellon ($600), plus the Bâtard-

Montrachet 2017 from Louis Latour ($550). Rounding out the

2017s receiving classic ratings of 95 to 100 points are the Albert

Bichot Corton-Charlemagne Domaine du Pavillon (95, $236),

Louis Latour Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts (95, $130) and Thi-

erry & Pascale Matrot Meursault Perrières (95, $149). A handful

of other 2016s and a few late-release 2015s also earned classic scores.

These are among the highlights from the nearly 475 white Bur-

gundies I have reviewed in blind tastings at our New York office

since my previous report (“From Opulent to Elegant,” Sept. 30,

2018). The wines are primarily divided between the 2017 and 2016

vintages (representing 47% and 46% of the total), with the re-

mainder mostly late-release 2015s. Based on these reviews, I give

the 2017 vintage a preliminary rating of 90 to 93 points. (A free

alphabetical list of scores and prices for all wines tasted is available

at WineSpectator.com/BurgundyAlpha093019.)

fter the frost in 2016, the vineyards of the Côte d’Or re-

sponded with plenty of vigor in 2017, initially promising

an above average size crop. But that was not to be. At Louis

Jadot, for example, yields were ultimately down by about 15% to

20%, according to technical director Frédéric Barnier.

The growing season got off to a warm early spring, after a cold

winter, and though there was the threat of spring frost, it was nar-

rowly averted. The early development of the vineyards persisted

through flowering, but the Chardonnay vines, more precocious

than Pinot Noir, suffered from the early June heat, resulting in

flowers that didn’t develop and millerand berries in other clusters,

small and thick-skinned with no seeds.

Though the weather warmed up in the summer, the skies re-

mained cloudy. August was hot and dry, with rain on the last day

of the month helping to kick-start the end of the ripening cycle.

Barnier waited for the skins of both the reds and whites to fully

ripen, picking from Sept. 4 through Sept. 22. He saw no reason to

bottle the Jadot reds and whites early.

“Some people say [2017 is] a year you want to bottle early, but I

won’t touch mine before March or April,” he told me in January

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Audrey Braccini, winemaker at the Louis Jadot–owned J.-A. Ferret, crafted four

well-priced releases from Pouilly-Fuissé in the 2017 vintage.

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