1998 Chassagne-Montrachetmorgeot

I preferred Bernard Morey domain bottlings to his collection of negociant wines in '99; the latter wines, sampled in a very cold, air-conditioned cellar (one of Morey's numerous locations around the top of the town of Chassagne-Montrachet), came across as leaner and more dominated by their oak. Morey told me that he stirred the lees weekly until the end of the malolactic fermentations in '98 as well as in '99; he would rather protect his wines against oxidation in this manner than add sulfur before the malos have finished. The gregarious Morey, who is the mayor of Chassagne-Montrachet, also noted that there was a lot of drought stress in 1999. "Some '98 cuvees not affected by frost were considerably riper than their '99 counterparts."

Bernard Morey characterizes the '98s as a bit heavy, richer and rounder than the '97s but with lower acidity. With the exception of the Puligny Truffieres, the Chassagne Embrazees and the Saint-Aubin Charmois, which were hit by frost, yields were mostly 15%-20% higher than in '97. Morey was careful about eliminating the off-color bourbes following the fermentation, but then did more frequent batonnage than in the previous year in order to protect the wines, which he described as oxidation-prone. The '98s had been racked a week prior to my visit, but Morey was still keeping a bit of the lees with the wines. When he feels his wines are too soft, Morey prefers to add citric acidity, which he believes gives the wines an elegance and freshness; tartaric acidity, he says, has a tendency to dry and harden the wine.