2008 Chassagne-Montrachet Clos Saint-Jean 1er Cru

Michel Niellon opened a spanking new facility outside Chassagne-Montrachet, behind the large cellars of Philippe Colin and Jean-Marc Pillot, in time to vinify the 2009 harvest. Readers may recall that I worried out loud last year that Niellon, who previously worked in very cramped cellars under his home, would have to rush his 2008s into bottle before the 2009 harvest, in spite of the fact that some of the malos did not finish until early summer. In the end, though, with the spacious new barrel cellar, he was able to bottle the late 2008s in October and November. I tasted this year with Niellon's son-in-law Michel Coutoux, who told me that "we were almost the first in the village to start picking in '09, on September 6," and that acidity levels in the grapes began to plunge not long afterwards. He described the wines as "fast and easy to make," but wondered if they were too good too soon. "Are they fresh enough?" he mused. The malos were finished by the end of the year, and thus very little batonnage was done. Coutoux describes 2008 as "fruity and sweet" and 2007 as "taut and vivid." (Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, New York, NY) Other wines tasted: Chassagne-Montrachet*.

Michel Niellon, who claimed that the 2008 harvest brought healthy grapes in his vineyards, describes the wines as having less acidity than the 2007s, and less ampleur than the '06s. They're also more floral than the 2007s, which he described as more linear and severe. Just a few of the 2008s here had finished their malos at the end of May. This was one of several addresses, mostly in the village of Chassagne-Montrachet, where I worried about the future of wines that might have to be bottled a scant two or three months after the end of their malos.