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Wine Description
The Story
In 1934 was the introduction of the first vintage of Cuvée Duvault-Blochet, a Vosne-Romanée premier cru produced from the fruit of the grand cru vineyards’ younger vines. Typically sold to négociants, these grapes proved that year to be of such exceptional quality that Edmund de Villaine, Aubert’s grandfather, decided to make a wine to honor his predecessor.
Another 65 years passed before this cuvée reappeared among the domaine’s new releases. Despite spring rain that threatened to infect the vines with mildew, the 1999 vintage benefited from an August heat wave that intensified the sugar levels and acidity of the grapes, which achieved near-perfect ripeness. Once the initial harvest was done, the vineyard team began to collect the remaining fruit. "The grapes from the young vines that we harvested separately in our grand crus were of such exceptional quality," Aubert de Villaine stated in the domaine’s report on the 1999 vintage, "that we decided, if only for this time, to revive the tradition [of Cuvée Duvault-Blochet]." He went on to add that this bottling "in no way should be interpreted as the beginning of a ‘second wine’ from the Domaine, to be produced every year.
But if the bottling of Cuvée Duvault-Blochet was not quite the rule over the next seven vintages, neither was the 1999 vintage the sole exception. The domaine went on to produce this wine again in 2002 and a very small quantity of it in 2004. This spring, the directors announced the release of a 2006 vintage of the Vosne-Romanée premier cru.
Vintage 2004
2004 VINTAGE in Burgundy
2004 will be remembered as the year of wonderful surprises. The month of September was hot, dry and sunny contributing to an excellent harvest which in turn gave birth to fruity, elegant wines.
The harvest started on the 13th September in Burgundy, the Mâconnais and the Côte Chalonnaise during a long awaited spell of mild weather following a summer characterised by climatic instability.
These conditions slowed down the colouring of the grapes, disturbed the start of ripening and provided ideal conditions for the development of oidium. Luckily the return of a long period of warmth and sun from the beginning of September onwards accelerated the ripening process with a sharp increase in sugars.
This summery weather accompanied by a warm drying wind also allowed for the vines to maintain a satisfactory sanitary state. The hailstorms unfortunately destroyed a number of important parcels in the Mâconnais and in the vineyards of the Côte d?Or at different stages of their vegetative cycle. Contrary to 2003, nature showed herself to be kind and the wine-growers had to go ahead with intensive green harvesting to control the yields, taking off the damaged grapes or leaf-thinning.
In mid-september estimations put the forthcoming harvest at about 10% above that of an average harvest.
Although the particularly successful 2002 and 2003 vintages are tasting beautifully at the moment, it is still to early to define the profile for the 2004 vintage.
We will have to wait until after various tastings in November in Beaune, Chablis and in the Auxerrois region before getting a preliminary idea of the qualities of the 2004 harvest.