1999 Montrachet Grand Cru

Gerard Boudot offered the most concise possible description of the 2000 and 1999 whites: "The 2000s are fruity, while the 1999s are floral," he told me at the end of May. He elaborated on the new vintage: "We had a lot of rain at the end of August and beginning of September in 2000, but the fruit had thick skins and there was little rot. It was a difficult year saved by ten good days of weather before the harvest. Yet the vintage shows a bit less acidity and a bit lower sugar than 1999, so the wines will have a slightly weaker structure. I'll probably bottle these wines a bit earlier, or perhaps keep them in cuve instead of oak for the last few months." The premier crus all were aging in about one-third new oak, except for the Combettes (45%) and the Garenne (25%). Boudot prefers '00 and '99 to '98 and '97, and is especially high on '99, which he compares in quality to 1990. "The 2000 vintage is more like '92," he adds. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)

Gerard Boudot spoke favorably of the natural balance of the fruit in 1999. "The wines have sound acidity and a solid spinal column," he told me. "They will be delicious early for their fruit and they will age. I haven't found these lovely primary aromas of white flowers since 1973, which was my first vintage." Boudot claimed to have had yields of around 50 hectoliters per hectare in his premier crus, and 57 to 60 for his village wines. There was some rain at the beginning and at the end of the period, he told me, but no rot. The pHs were low in '99, though not quite so low as in '96. The malolactic fermentations tended to go quickly as there was a relatively low percentage of malic acidity in the grapes. The wines were still on their lees at the end of May, and because the lees were "spotless," Boudot planned to continue stirring them every two weeks until November of this year-even after the assemblage and first racking in early September. Boudot top '98s have turned out impressively: he felt that the rain prior to the harvest compromised the acidity in the grapes, and his wines have benefitted from his decision to retain 25% to 30% of the malic acidity. Interestingly, Boudot describes his '98s as wines in an easy style; the '97s, he says, display more nervosite and aging potential. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)