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DOMAINE DUJAC AND DUJAC FILS ET PÈRE
Vintage Report 2004
From Jeremy Seysses
There is no better place than Burgundy to grow pinot noir and chardonnay. It was important to keep this in mind as we were confronted with the many challenges of the 2004 vintage... In the wake of all the heat and drought records that 2003 produced, 2004 was a return to a far more typical burgundian growing season.
The vines flowered on the late side, in cool weather. The result of this was some millerandage (small berries) but also an uneven setting of the berries within each cluster. Potentially, at the beginning of the season, 2004 was looking like a very large crop. The vines were clearly looking to compensate for the diminutive quantities produced the previous year. All along the season, we worked hard at bringing the yields down to desirable levels, mainly through debudding and green harvest.
The weather went from hot and dry until mid-June to cool and damp throughout July and most of August. A particularly virulent strain of o_dium or powdery mildew launched its attack early on and kept a very high pressure until the end of August. O_dium can affect all the green parts of the vine, the damage resulting in the loss of the plants photosynthetic ability and thus its ability to ripen any grapes. Our vineyard team led by our vineyard manager Lilian Robin, did an incredible job in controlling the disease by spraying at key moments, sometimes on foot rather than on tractor when the ground wasn't dry enough.
To test our nerves, two hailstorms hit our vineyards in the course of August. Now it should be noted that in the past, hailstones the size of large plums have hit the C_te d'Or, completely wiping out vineyards and anything breakable for that matter. These storms were not close to the same level of damage, but they did affect large areas, damaging berries and leaves in most of our vineyards. As far as our domaine was concerned, the hardest hit were the areas of Gevrey-Chambertin and Flagey-Echezeaux.
Now hail can have several consequences: one is the development of Botrytis, another is that the damage to the canopy makes the ripening difficult. Fortunately, grey rot does not develop easily on green grapes and the v_raison was very late. Moreover, I can write confidently that our vineyards had canopies in remarkably good condition at the end of the summer.
On 25th August, the weather finally gave us what we had been hoping for: the wind turned to the North and we were blessed with cool, sunny weather until the end of harvest. The wind dried the atmosphere and made the conditions unsuitable to the development of Botrytis. V_raison was quick to come, putting an end to the o_dium pressure. The grapes ripened at an astonishing rate and we were all very favorably surprised by how high the sugars had got at the time of harvest.
We began picking with the reds on 28 September and finished picking with the whites on 7 October. Picking took a long time, as our pickers had to do a lot of sorting, but the results were worthwhile. Perhaps even more than usual, most of the work was done in the vineyard, making the job of winemaking easier. We treated the grapes gently, limiting the amount of extraction and trying to put the emphasis on charm rather than tannic structure. The high sugars meant that chaptalisation was minimal. Acidity levels were good too, with high levels of malic, leading to a very long malo-lactic fermentation.
The red wines were bottled in January and February of 2006 and I am terribly pleased with the finished wines. These are wines for the lovers of classical Burgundy. They combine the purity and transparency of the 2001s, showing their terroirs of origin very clearly, with some of the more immediate charm and softness of tannin of the 2000s. While they have plenty of immediate appeal, I think that they will have at least normal longevity, which is to say between 5 and 8 years for the village wines, 7 to 12 for the 1er Crus and 8 to 15 for the Grands Crus.
The white wines were bottled in September 2005 with the exception of the Morey St-Denis 1er Cru "Les Monts Luisants" which was bottled at the same time as the reds. The natural balance was excellent, with high acids and high sugars, and naturally very long fermentations. They are very mineral, pure and textbook of their terroirs. They are so delicious now that I recommend you not to hesitate to pull corks immediately, especially on the Meursault and the Puligny-Montrachet. The Morey St-Denis and Morey St-Denis 1er Cru are a source of genuine satisfaction to me. They are among the most vibrant, lively white wines we've produced to date. I hope they will provide you with much enjoyment.
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| The Sorting Table, LLC 1700 Second St. Suite 380 Napa, CA 94559 (707) 603-1460 |
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