i rather enjoyed listening to this interview. its always great to have burgundy producers. and frederic did not disappoint!

i have become a big fan of rusty. i remember thinking that he was just a shill for pushing pinots, and then i read a review of something that he did not like, which i had recently tasted, and thought that his comments were spot on!

i even took to his affected pronunciation of pinot noir. i thought that perhaps he knew something more about its pronunciation. and then i heard him say “vos-nee” from the commune of vosne romanee.

…needless to say, i’m now back to my gutteral expression of “pinot noir.” (eric, help rusty out. i know you have that book on french pronunciations!)

paul.

If the winemaker attempts to make 2005 like the 2004 he may be able to acomplish that feat. But its artificial/manipulated and even more important will lose terroir. IMHO, a winemaker should use a delicate hand. Do only what has to be done and not an inch more.

Jay

Vintage variations are what make wine exciting. It’s the reason why you’ll rarely come across a multivintage blend outside of Champagne.

Mark

Jay

Interesting conversation about terroir and winemakers. I think all winemakers obliterate the terroir no matter what they do e.g. even the simplest things such as choosing to cool the must down (and to what temperature) affects the expression of terroir. Don’t forget the role of viticulture in obliterating terroir. How many vineyards have you seen where the grapes grow wild ? All things such as fertilisers, trellising, canopy management, disease management, when to pick, etc, all effect (obliterate ??) the expression of terroir. Let’s face it, if there is a bad year where there is an large outbreak of at least one form of “bad” rot then surely the best expression of the terroir would be to include all those rotten grapes (and bottle it in a magnum for Jay

I am not sure that I agree with the comment that the winemaker has a duty to let the wine reflect the vintage though. Let’s say in 2004, a winemaker produces a stunning wine that I really like. If in 2005, he decides to do his best to let the finished wine reflect the vintage then he/she may produce a wine that i don’t like as much as the 2004. In this case, I would have preferred the winemaker to work some magic and produce another 2004 again.

Eric

Mark