1983 Domaine Parent Le Clos Micault Pommard Premier Cru

The vines in the Clos Micault plot grow in calcic brown soil overlying limestone scree at the top of the ancient alluvial fan called La Vandaine, which makes the soil very stony. The exposure is east and southeast.

The 1983 vintage was excellent in Burgundy.  Spring saw appaling weather conditions: temperatures were low and rain fell heavily. There were heavy, if localised, hailstorms in May: Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny were particularly affected, losing a third of the crop. However a hot, dry June saw a good flowering and the sunny conditions continued throughout July and much of August. Heavy rainfall and little sunshine at the end of that month and through to mid-September adversely affected the ripening process and brought on rot; and the harvest took place in changeable weather.

Rot in Gevrey-Chambertin, hail in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny, so certainly more consistent in the Côte de Beaune. Yet the great wines are in the Côte de Nuits. In all the wines the structure is to the fore, and in many cases there is nothing within the scaffolding, or what there is is now dried out. But the best are better than the 1985s, though there are far fewer of them.