1997 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

According to enologist Philippe Grillet, it was necessary to do an extended debourbage following the alcoholic fermentation in '98 due to concern about the health of the lees, and then less batonnage than was carried out in '97. Still, the colors of the '98s are more advanced than those of the '97s, and winemaker Franck Grux describes 1998 as a fragile vintage. About 10% of the barrels did not finish their malolactic fermentations. Grape sugars averaged about 12.5% in 1998, or a bit lower than those of the previous year. The problem, according to Olivier Leflaive, was that the fruit wasn't really ripe on the ban de vendange and thus he delayed the start of the harvest. Interestingly, the '98s finished their fermentations with a bit more residual sugar (typically 1.7 to 1.8 grams per liter) than the '97s, and this may well work to their advantage, especially where the wines are less fleshy than those of the previous year. (Several growers mentioned this phenomenon to me, and it is clear that sweeter '98s and drier '97s are far better combinations than the other way around.) Leflaive bought no Chassagne La Romanee, Caillerets, or Ruchottes in 1998, as the growers kept the tiny quantity of fruit for themselves. Nor will he offer any Meursault Perrieres or Genevrieres. The '97s, impressive last spring from barrel, have turned out well; the grand crus were bottled in February, fined but not filtered, a few months earlier than the '96s were finished last year.

Olivier Leflaive own holdings account for just 10% of this firm total output; of the rest, 40% is purchased in grapes, the other 60% in juice. My first visit to this producer in several years turned up an impressively rich and in some instances exotic crop of '97s in the works; one can only hope that these wines receive a gentle bottling. "1997 was in general a bit phenolic," winemaker Franck Grux told me, "and due to warm ambient temperatures longer debourbage was critical. It was also a vintage that featured some degree of overripeness in the fruit." My tasting of the '97s began with multiple components of not yet assembled village wines from Meursault, Puligny and Chassagne; of these, the Meursault was the standout, with uncanny richness for its appellation. The house had just bottled its 1996 grand crus, and Grux maintained that the wines would be untasteable until at least the fall of '98, so my notes below are limited to several premier crus sampled in New York in early August.