Producer note: As is usually the case, I met with Véronique Drouhin who had an interesting tagline for the 2018 vintage, calling it "The Tranquil Force. The idea behind the phrase is to capture the vintage's deceptively easy-going nature as there is real power and energy hiding beneath the veneer of baby fat. Now things are much clearer but the winter and early spring did not begin propitiously as they were cold and very wet. Then, in seemingly the blink of an eye, a warm second half of April caused the vegetative cycle to explode. Remarkably, we saw the initial flowering on the 19th of May, and it was done in record time. The first signs of véraison were noticed in the middle of July though a very hot and dry August would see it advance slowly. Other than some early season mildew the season was essentially without disease pressure. Ultimately, we chose to pick quite slowly from the 29th of August to the 17th of September. In the white wine vinifications we used more lees than we usually do and in hindsight I'm glad that we did as it seemed to help preserve the freshness. The vinifications themselves were relatively easy to manage but what required a lot of precision and rigor was the élevage. In fact, it is this demanding element that will likely ultimately explain the difference between average to good 2018 whites and those that are excellent." The Drouhin 2018 whites are really very good and the restrained and elegant Drouhin house style is well-suited to riper vintages and it appears to be especially successful in 2018. (Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., www.dreyfusashby.com, NY, USA; Pol Roger Ltd., www.polroger.co.uk, UK).
Tasting note: More evident wood can be found on the moderately exotic aromas of white peach, lychee, jasmine tea and a hint of tangerine peel. Once again there is a really lovely mouthfeel to the delicious and vibrant flavors that, much like the Puligny villages, are not particularly concentrated yet the refreshingly dry and sneaky long finish is impressively complex. This elegant effort should drink well both young and with up to a decade of bottle age.
