Domaine Regis Forey, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2005

Régis Forey describes the 2006 vintage as one "built on its fruit. It’s more supple and less concentrated than 2006 and while I would have to admit that the ’05 vintage is better, there’s less of a difference than one might expect. I decided to wait a few extra days before I began picking to give the grapes a margin for error in terms of phenolic ripeness. Yields were all over the place with some having normal yields and others relatively low productivity. Overall, my ’06 yields were slightly less than what I realized in 2005. By contrast, sugars were excellent, averaging fully 13% and I chaptalized nothing. There was a bit of sorting required but really, less than I had originally thought. Unlike many of what my neighbors said that they did, I wanted to push the extraction. However, I did it with a very long cuvaison of six weeks but with very few punch downs. The malos were extremely long and they didn’t finish until October. I stirred the lees several times as well to help the malos finish. For me, I would compare the ’06s to the 2000s on the nose but the ’05s in terms of their excellent balance." Now that the ’05s are in bottle, I do believe that Forey was too harsh in his assessment of them last year at this time, in particular the Gaudichots, Echézeaux and Clos de Vougeot, all of which are outstanding. (Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Shekomeko, NY; Georges Barbier, UK).