Producer note: As is usually the case I met this trip with Jacques Lardiàre, winemaker and technical director for Maison Jadot. Lardiàre 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. Alan Meadows, Burghound
