2002 Vosne-Romanée Cuvée Duvault-Blochet 1er Cru

A year ago, Aubert de Villaine was guardedly optimistic about 2002 and was clearly more enthusiastic about this estate's 2001s.He was a lot more positive about the newer vintage in November."Two thousand two is about purity of fruit more than about tenderness," he noted."It's less seductive than '99.Still, the 2002s have taken an interesting course.Now they show a good combination of purity of fruit and balance.They are very classic wines that have the fruit to be enjoyed in their first couple of years, or cellared for 10 to 15 years."Villaine told me that the young 2002s remind him of the '62s-and I have fond memories of that vintage!Yields here in 2003 were an infinitesimal 13 to 21 hectoliters per hectare (compared to an average of 28 in 2002), with potential alcohol levels in the 13% range. The harvest began on August 23, and Villaine told me the team here was careful to control the fermentation temperatures in 2003. These wines were racked in the spring.Villaine chose not to use micro-aeration with the '03s, because the wines needed oxygenation and he wanted to eliminate the carbonic gas.

Aubert de Villaine was one of a few chateau proprietors who wondered aloud what all the fuss was regarding the 2002 vintage. Yes, there was more sugar in 2002 than in 2001, as well as more acidity," he told me, "but the maturity came quickly after the early September rains, thanks to the sun and water available to the vines.It's a very good vintage that produced extremely nice wines, but it's not 1999. And it's not a particularly powerful vintage."De Villaine is high on his 2001s, however. It's a great, dense vintage, classic and seductive.The 2001s have been an extraordinary surprise."In my November tasting, they were even more impressive than the 2002s, even if the top two wines were a bit inscrutable at this early stage. DRC is experimenting with using microbullage(introducing small amounts of air in this case, not oxygen) to avoid one racking, and is also leaving some of the 2002 barrels on their original lees clear up to the assemblage (Wilson-Daniels, Ltd., St. Helena CA