The year when everything went very well. Beautiful weather arrived early in the season, but then a huge storm hit the Côte de Nuits on May 3rd and a wave of ‘ice’ crossed the Côte from the northwest to the southwest. (Croix Blanches, Réas, Jaquines, Lutenières, Echezeaux, and to a lesser extent Chambolle Charmes, were all heavily hit.)
After this traumatizing storm, de-budding was carried out carefully, especially in the worst-hit parcels. Then the region was hit again with hail on May 20th and 21st, this time with a lot of rain… Ouf! Very little damage to the future grape clusters, however.
Flowering unfolded under good conditions; the vines were in full bloom around June 10th.
The summer is memorable for the sustained dry weather. The grape clusters were beautiful and aerated. On September 6th the long-awaited rain finally arrived, bringing with it a bit of botrytis…
Harvest was carried out from September 17th to 23rd with good weather conditions.
The grapes were beautiful, though a modest sorting was still necessary. The grape skins were thick. Vinification unfolded without a hitch. A lot of substance and generosity, still a fair bit of acidity. 2005 is a very great vintage, though it closed back up quickly after bottling.