2005 Burgundy Vintage

The winter of 2004/5 was notably cold and long, with temperatures plunging to -12 degrees C at the beginning of March at Bonneau du Martray in Pernand-Vergelesses, which killed off bugs and left the vines in good health. There was some useful rain in April and May, then hardly any from the end of May to the end of August, less than in 2003. The summer was quite exceptionally dry, and drought was the chief characteristic of the vintage. Yet temperatures and sunshine hours were generally lower than average, with persistently grey skies in August, so 2005 was no repeat of the 2003 heatwave; only June registered significantly more sunshine than average. Through the gloomy August the vines kept photosynthesising and slowly built up sugars, and with so little rain they stayed entirely free of fungal disease. Hail was the one blemish: it hit Chambolle-Musigny and Echezeaux very early in May, and Chassagne-Montrachet, especially the Morgeot vineyard, late in July, reducing yields there. Proper rain arrived on September 7 and kick-started the final phase of ripening. A prolonged spell of fine weather followed, so growers could take their time over when to pick; Sylvie Esmonin did not pick her Clos St Jacques until September 23-28. The lack of water may have left grapes pea-sized with thick skins full of flavour, tannin and colour, yet for most red wines yields were relatively respectable: Domaine Armand Rousseau averaged just over 40 hl/ha, which seems pretty general for Gevrey-Chambertin.

• Cold, long winter of 2004/5, down to -12 degrees C at the beginning of March in Pernand-Vergelesses; useful rain in April and May
• Hardly any rain from the end of May to the end of August, less than in 2003, but temperatures and sunshine generally below average
• Hail in Chambolle-Musigny and Echezeaux very early in May and in Chassagne-Montrachet late in July; no fungal disease
• Proper rain on September 7, then prolonged fine weather; yields relatively respectable for most reds

In its November 2006 update, written around 14 months after the harvest, the BIVB called 2005 the vintage of superlatives (translated). It said the Cote de Nuits reds border on perfection (translated), with wines of great precision showing Pinot Noir in all its splendour. Of the Cote Chalonnaise and Cote de Beaune reds it wrote that from regional appellation to grand cru, everything is superb (translated). Among the whites, it called the Maconnais an exceptional vintage with impressive ageing potential, found Chablis agreeable and seductive with very pure minerality, and judged Cote Chalonnaise and Cote de Beaune whites still closed but serious and structured, promising excellent keeping. Jancis Robinson judged the whites not quite as outstanding overall as the reds, especially not Chablis, noting that some with particularly low yields can seem hot and over-alcoholic, though the best were completely stunning. She also found that simple wines were, for once, as lovely in their frame of reference as the grand ones, and that usually leaner appellations such as Pernand-Vergelesses and the Hautes Cotes had enough sun to shine.

• Robinson found some hail-hit Morgeot whites pretty tough, from very low yields and very small grapes

With healthy fruit and thick skins, 2005 asked little of winemakers. Sorting tables were, for once, surplus to requirements, harvests tended to be uncharacteristically short, and there was no need to work hard at extraction. Bertrand Maume of Domaine Maume said, "I kept going to the vineyards every day but came back having done nothing", and Jean-Marie Fourrier called the vintage "Boring - but great". The cold winter and early spring of 2006 then slowed the wines in barrel, so malolactic fermentation started very late, well into summer, and a few had not finished by the beginning of 2007. For the whites, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive reported average acidity only very slightly lower than in 2004, 4.2 rather than 4.5 grams per litre, with the harsh malic portion much lower.

• Sorting tables were, for once, surplus to requirements
• Thick skins meant little need to work hard at extracting flavour, colour and structure
• Malolactic fermentation started very late after the cold winter of 2006, in a few wines unfinished by early 2007
• Domaine Leflaive: average acidity 4.2 grams per litre against 4.5 in 2004

Robinson named the thrilling combination of ripeness and acidity as the dominant trait of these wines. Bernard Dugat-Py pointed out that 2005 is not like the super-ripe 1989 and 1990, because it has much more acidity and much riper tannins. Nor is it like the drought vintage of 1976, because 2005 was significantly cooler. Some vignerons compared it to 2002 with more minerality. Fred Mugnier of Domaine J F Mugnier saw both the freshness of a cool vintage and the richness of an overripe one: "This makes the wines very interesting," he said. Christophe Roumier called it a particularly transparent vintage in which terroir differences are very clear. Eric Rousseau summed up the rare mix at Domaine Armand Rousseau: "It's quite exceptional to have this combination of ripeness, fullness and quantity."

• Vignerons were divided on how the wines would age after bottling