Producer note: As is usually the case I met this trip with Jacques Lardière, winemaker and technical director for Maison Jadot. Lardière basically could not have been more positive about the 2005s, enthusing that it was a "super clean vintage with unbelievably beautiful fruit. And the fruit was ripe too if not as ripe as 2003 and interestingly, it was even riper for pinot than it was for the chardonnay. The only real concern was here in the Côte de Beaune because for the fourth year in a row, it was extremely dry and the vines are clearly suffering in certain soil types or when the vines are very young with shallow root systems. By contrast, the Côte de Nuits had a bit more rainfall and with some terroirs, it was enough to make the difference between excellent wine and truly great wine. In fact, this extra moisture often enabled the vines in the Côte de Nuits to bring their fruit to full maturity before those in the Côte de Beaune, which is rare and as a consequence, we harvested many parcels in the Côte de Nuits first. Because of this, I don't hesitate to say that in 2005 the Côte de Nuits is clearly better than the Côte de Beaune. To be clear though, this is not to say there were not some great wines made in the Côte de Beaune because there were. However, the drought very much favored more humid soils types. To my way of thinking, 2005 is a classic vintage and thus I treated the fruit as such in terms of vinification. The average wine saw a total cuvaison of around 21 days (including 10 to 12 days of post-fermentation maceration) and I allowed the temperatures to rise to a maximum of 37 to 38º C (98 to 100º F). I also believe that the '05s will need a relatively long élevage to find the harmony of the tannins to combat the dryness they displayed early on. We used a bit more new oak than usual because the wines are so concentrated as well as the natural aeration that the greater porosity of new wood provides. As I say, 2005 is a classic vintage and the Côte de Nuits wines resemble a blend of the very best 1985s and the more concentrated 1990s and they should make old bones." Lardière noted that all of the '05 grands crus will be bottled in a bottle called La Sommeliàre, which has a classic shape and is, comparatively speaking, quite heavy. In fact, a number of domaines told me that they have elected to use this bottle for their best wines in 2005. (Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; Hatch, Mansfield Agencies, UK).