This 22 ha estate is now directed by Pierre Bart and his uncle Martin along with Pierre’s mother and aunt. Martin is a cousin of Bruno Clair because Martin’s mother was part of the Clair-Daü family. This explains why there are holdings in Bonnes Mares, Chambolle and Clos de Bèze as well as in Santenay (the family is related, though distantly, to Denis Clair of Santenay). With respect to the 2016 vintage, Pierre Bart explained that "the frost hit us hard and particularly in Marsannay as volumes were off around 75% on average but it was quite disparate as some parcels were basically normal and others were off as much as 90%.
For example, in our parcel of Finottes we typically produce 40 barrels but in 2016 we made only 4. Volumes in some parcels were so low that we were forced to combine them so as to have a sufficient amount to vinify. As such, there are four wines that we did not make. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a severe attack of mildew along with a bit of oidium too just for good measure! We chose to begin picking on the 17th of September and at least the fruit was quite clean and thus there was very little sorting required. Sugars were strong and potential alcohols ranged from 12.8 to as much as 13.8%.
The fruit had relatively thick skins with a fairly high percentage of shot berries so the extractions were easy. We used between 40 to 50% whole clusters which is a bit more than usual but again, we did so with the goal of having a sufficient volume in the fermenters. As to the wines, we vinified lightly and made wines of pleasure that should drink well young." I found the quality of the Bart 2016s to generally be in-line with what I found in Marsannay and Gevrey. With that said, I commend severa