high. Moreover, there was a lot of triage as many bunches were roasted on one side but perfect on the other. We began picking on August 23rd and brought in sugars that consistently ranged between 13 and 13.6%. I used a lot of dry ice to drop the temperatures quickly to around 10 to 12° C. It was a tricky vinification as the musts were thick with very high protein levels and I have never before seen such high pHs. The malos began almost immediately and while I tried to delay it, it just couldn't be stopped. I was forced to correct the acidities up to 280 grams per barrel but only in must, not in wine. I'm not a big fan of too much wood influence and I noticed that the '03s were taking up the oak very quickly so by March I racked into stainless tanks, chilled the new wines to 12° C and let them feed on their fine lees with essentially no bâtonnage. I also bottled several months earlier than usual, with everything being finished by December. I didn't change anything regarding the percentage of new wood though I did bottle with 800 ml of gas rather than my usual target of around 650. As to the aging potential, I'm not sure how the wines will react. They're certainly admirably dense but my strong preference is for balanced and elegant wines and thus I would be more inclined to drink them on the young side. While the correlation isn't strong, if I had to choose a recent vintage that was even close to 2003, I might suggest 1989, which was also very rich and slightly heavy. As the scores suggest, and Boudot freely concedes, the quality here in '03 is mixed with a few gorgeous wines and some that are not up to their usual high standards. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; O.W. Loeb, Justerini & Brooks, Lay & Wheeler, Tanners Wines, Adnams, Berry Brothers & Rudd and Domaine Direct, all UK). Note: the Bourgogne and the Chassagne and Puligny villages wines were bottled in September. Note: 26 year old vines aged in 25% new wood; the yields in 2003 were 38 hl/ha Very gentle wood notes frame ripe orchard fruit aromas, particularly peach and apricot. The medium full flavors are luscious, indeed almost thick with a rich, round and sweet palate impression all sitting atop a base of minerality and while the stony quality is not as prominent as it usually is, it's still present. In short, solid if not distinguished.    (hide)