Bouchard Pere & Fils, Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru La Cabotte 2007

robert_parker95

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

Firstly, there is a definite increase in terms of definition and sense of mineralite compared to the regular Chevalier-Montrachet. So vibrant with wonderful precision, hints of white peach, hawthorn, flint. The palate is beautifully defined with great acidity and poise, building all the time on the palate towards the vibrant taut finish of crushed stones. This is fabulous. Drink 2011-2025+ Tasted January 2009.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: David Schildknecht

Reflecting a terrace adjacent to Le Montrachet (one of four Bouchard terraces that collectively constitute around one third of this great cru) the 2007 Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte offers a floral bouquet as ravishing as that of its “regular” Chevalier-Montrachet counterpart. Here the scents range from iris through orange blossom, and including that of the flowering vines themselves. This is even more penetrating yet also more rarified than its immediate sibling, with the high-toned floral notes again carrying along with citrus oils all the way into the finish, here characterized by transparency to and a dynamically shimmering interchange with saline, stony, and savory crustacean mineral elements. A hint of white pepper adds invigoration to the litany of luscious fruit and intriguing mineral characteristics of this subtly creamy-textured, uncannily buoyant expression of a great site which – although Bouchard has appealed to the authorities in past for a reclassification as Montrachet – strikes me as distinctively Chevalier in personality, or perhaps in this vintage like a cross between Montrachet and Les Preuses! I both hope and anticipate that this will be worth following for well more than a decade, but anyone lucky enough to acquire some would be crazy not to begin enjoying it young. Philippe Prost’s late-August starting date for the 2007 white harvest reflects not simply the enormous acreage over which Bouchard holds sway. (In fact, they can muster correspondingly large forces and their gargantuan facility with its battery of presses can handle the harvest in ten days if need be.) It is also a function of assiduous yield control that promotes ripening, and of a professed interest in capturing freshness and vivacity. Furthermore, picking extended for 18 days, until mid-September, and most of the estate’s top sites were brought in near the end. And with the exception of a Pouilly-Fuisse rendered from contract fruit, none of the 2007 whites here were chaptalized. Most came in a bit over 13% alcohol and – as Prost asserts and his wines testify – with excellent phenolic maturity. Prost prefers to avoid sulfuring the fruit or must, letting it darken from oxidation during its period of skin contact and settling because, in his view, not only the color but the flavors bounce back as soon as the juice starts fermenting, and the resulting wine is both more expressive and more stable. “You know,” he says by way of general commentary on the evolution of Bouchard vinification, “a few years ago we were too concerned to be clean and clinical” with the result that “the wines were closed,” especially in their youth. No one could level that charge at the wines now, even if some are subtle and understated. The question now – just as at other Burgundy addresses – is how white wines from the last several vintages will age. Among many recent changes made at Bouchard in the name (dare I interject, “hope”?) of reducing instances of premature oxidation and bottle variation are blanketing the assembled wines in nitrogen, a sophisticated new bottling protocol, and the use of Diam (specially treated composite) corks for village level wines and dense corks from Sardinia for crus. Importer: Henriot, Inc, New York, NY; tel. (212) 605-6767