The 2009 vintage of Domaine de La Romanée-Conti
In exceptionally sunny years, it often happens that the sun continues to accompany the grapes, which it has taken so much care to ripen, from the end of fermentation to the birth of the wine. That's the case this year - a year ending in "9" which once again connects this number to the star of life. Indian summer sets in at the end of the harvest, and the radiant vines, freed of their fruit, change their “diurnal dress”, becoming more and more golden every day. It is as if their nostalgia for summer days is expressed in the golden hue that adorns the leaves before they fall to the ground, abandoning themselves to the soil which is, in turn, nourished by them.
The vineyards buzz with activity along the village streets stretching out into the sun. The winemakers smile as they inhale the scents emanating from the fermentation vats, reminding them at every moment what a blessing from the gods a beautiful vintage in Burgundy is.
Not that it was all easy. On the contrary, in the annual struggle of the Burgundian winegrower against the irregular and unpredictable weather – without the whims of which he will not make great wines – victory often appears very late in the season, as in 2008, when it was necessary to wait until mid -September so that the window of good weather opens, allowing the vintage to be successful. At other, rarer times, such as in 1999, 2005 or this year 2009, victory is won much earlier, even at the beginning of August. But of course we didn't know it at that time, we were so concerned about protecting the vines from the brutal attacks of powdery mildew, downy mildew in particular, and even botrytis throughout the spring until the end of July.
After early budburst, as has been the case for most in recent years, these diseases were in fact facilitated during the months of April, May, June and even July by recurring rain storms which did not cause any respite for the winegrower. Even though the sun did not stop activating the metabolism in the vines, the heat brought storms almost every week. Fortunately these were not too violent, except where there was hail, like in Gevrey-Chambertin, for example, but each time the storms forced us to renew our organic treatments to save the vines. .
On the other hand, it is precisely these spring rains which allowed the vines to build up sufficient water reserves to overcome without excessive stress the drought that we experienced throughout the month of August – with the exception of one rain storm on August 15 – until the start of the harvest. This hydrated balance allowed the canopy of leaves to fully fulfill its role as “candy” and the grapes reached exceptional maturity.
The near-natural perfection of this harvest was totally respected by our harvest team, thanks to their now consummate experience in selective picking. In addition, we left aside the vines that were overloaded or too young for a second pass, in order to maintain the beautiful quality that we were looking for.
As a result, the grapes that passed the sorting table were some of the finest we have ever seen. As we saw in 1999 and 2005, there were many small clusters, many “Millerandages”, or “mixed” berries, and as a sign of a great year, the old vines, which are generally not very productive. , gave this year a generous harvest of small berries, sumptuous examples of the best Pinot Noir.
We also observed a phenomenon typical of great vintages: the berries most exposed to the sun had roasted and contained an almost concentrated sugar which was only released at the end of fermentation. Following this event, the wine experienced a real enrichment, natural and progressive, ending with an even higher richness in degrees than those we had observed at the start of fermentation.
Regarding the quantity, it is also satisfactory. Due to the generous flowering, in addition to the magnificent frame of clusters which was the same on all the fruits this year, the size of the harvest was of the order of those we had seen in 1999 and 2005.
The vines were harvested in the following order in 2009:
Corton: September 10 (The maturity of Corton was well ahead of Vosne-Romanée.)
Richebourg: September 13
Romanée-Conti: September 14 La Tâche: September 14 and 15 (Grapes from young 8-year-old vines
The Tâche were so ripe and fine that we decided to include them in the grand cuvée.)
Romanée-St.-Vivant: September 15-16
Grands Échézeaux: September 17-18 Échézeaux: 18-19
september
Montrachet: September 15 (During the year, the evolution of the Pinots Noirs and Chardonnays was curious and very different from the normal maturation process. The flowering of the Chardonnay took place at least a week later than that of the Pinots However, there was such an extreme reactive response from the Chardonnays in the final hot weeks of summer that the delay in maturity we first noticed with flowering – which persisted throughout the season of growth – was almost canceled. We harvested the Montrachet vineyard on September 15, before having finished harvesting the reds. We have high hopes of producing one of our most exceptional Montrachet vintages, the fruit was so glorious, golden, ultra-ripe, in a word, sumptuous, and at the same time, a beauty defying description).
At the time of writing, October 7, 2009, fermentations are slow, regular and naturally reach high temperatures. The quality of the grapes and the richness of the material allow us to aspire to long “vattings”, or “fermentations in vats or vats”. The colors are garnet red, almost black. This is a vintage of high lineage, reflecting the high standard of the magnificent grapes we harvested, which seem to come to life in the vats.
Domaine Moillard Evaluation Report: The winter of 2008-2009 was very cold and dry. Spring arrived slowly with a yo-yoing thermometer. Summer started with glorious sunshine and summer temperatures lasted until September. The vintage is characterized by exceptional sunshine, particularly in January, May and August.
The harvest began the second week of September. The yield was high; The grapes were rich and concentrated. The white wines are lip-smacking, with excellent alcohol/acidity balance; For the reds, the tannins are concentrated with a lot of flesh. This magnificent vintage shows that quantity rhymes with quality!