1999 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Ambitious and talented, Vincent Girardin has rapidly expanded his negociant business since the mid-'90s. But on my recent visit he told me that he had reached a sufficient level of production and actually planned to reduce purchases by 25% in 2000, by buying "just my favorite parcels." Girardin essentially purchases only old-vines juice with the material and backbone to support a high percentage of new oak (as of '99, he used 70% for his white crus-although he is now using less toasted barrels-all supplied by Francois Freres and Damy). Girardin describes the '99s as less mineral and lower in acidity than the '96s but still quite fresh. Girardin lowers the temperature in his tanks to 7oC to forestall the fermentations in order to get "real chardonnay aromas and more glycerol," then chaptalizes late in the fermentation in order to prolong it (some of the alcoholic fermentations of the '99s continued until March). Thanks to Girardin gentle pneumatic pressing, he has not decanted his wines after the fermentation since '96. ("If my suppliers only have a Vaslin bladder press, I will only buy grapes, not must," he told me.) In '99 the lees were clean, and he stirred them weekly until the end of April, then stopped for three weeks to allow the malos to finish. Girardin was still stirring the lees at the end of June, in an attempt to more thoroughly enrobe the sound acids of the vintage. Most of the wines had been sulfited about a week prior to my visit, but their high quality was plain to see. Girardin's wines have always been cleanly made; recent vintages, though, possess more texture and soul. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; numerous Girardin wines, reportedly identical to the Vineyard Brands bottlings in the case of the whites, are also imported under the Baron de la Charriere label by Eric Solomon/European Cellars, New York, NY)