2009 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Mounir Saouma describes 2010 as a mix of 2005 and 2009 but admits that he doesn't know how they will turn out. "They were supposed to be very full-bodied but they're not. The vintage is humiliating us so far. The key will be long alcoholic fermentations," he said, adding that some of his wines still had some unfermented sugar and most of the malos hadn't even started. So on my latest visit I focused on the 2009s, which were still in barrel. Most of them only finished their malos during the summer of 2010. "The key in 2009 was being able to pick early with sufficient ripeness. The fruit was low in acidity and for the first 14 to 16 months we were talking about a good year. But the mistake was to rack the wines too early." As my notes show, Saouma has some stunning 2009s in the making. He planned to bottle them later than his '09 reds.

This is another stunning set of wines from proprietors Mounir Saouma and Rotem Brakim. Saouma and Brakim practice some of the most risk-taking winemaking in Burgundy, especially with regards to élevage. The wines see extended aging on the lees with minimal sulfur. I tasted the 2009s in late June 2011. At the time the wines had never been racked. Readers should note that I omitted a number of wines from my reviews of the estate's 2009 reds, in particular the wines from Vosne-Romanée. Those notes are now posted on the site. My tasting concluded with two wines served blind. These turned out to be two 2004 Meursaults. The first wine was made with a pneumatic press and aged with 4 liters of lees per barrel, the second wine was made with a mechanical press and went into barrel with 8 liters of lees. Both wines were aged 18 months and bottled by hand. As it turns out, wine #2 was considerably fresher and much more nuanced than wine #1.