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This is a negociant label from Claude Dugat "The always understated Claude Dugat had a most interesting take on the vintage, telling me that 2005 is a 'great millesime but not a great one for pinot noir. In my view, the wines are too ripe and too tannic to have the elegance and purity that I want from my wines. They're delicious and impressive but to me that lack that final component of refinement which would make them truly great examples of pinot. We began picking on the 23rd of September, bringing in normal yields of between 32 and 33 hl/ha with good sugars that ranged between 12.5 and 13%. I did a more or less normal vinification with twice a day punch downs though not much pumping over. The crop was exceptionally clean with thick skins and I did a 48 hour lees settling mainly just to get rid of the heavier lees even though those heavy lees were pristine. We did have uneven and rather long malos but they eventually finished. Overall, the quality is certainly excellent but only time will tell if it's transcendental the way some are talking already. I can only judge against what I have harvested and vinified in the past and by that standard, 2005 is among the best if not typical.'" -Allen Meadows - Burghound