1999 Batard-Montrachet

I tasted this year with Verget general manager Armelle Foatelli, as Guffens was in the process of opening his new restaurant/wine bar/retail shop in the town of Apt, in the Luberon. According to Foatelli, Guffens used almost entirely free-run juice in 2000 and was still stirring the lees. Because the lees were clean, she said, "we could do the full Guffens treatment." I focused my tasting on the Verget wines from Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, because this spring I visited producers only on the Cote de Beaune. But because 2000 was a very successful vintage in the Maconnais, I have included notes below on a number of the most exciting Verget cuvees from this area, as well as his bottlings from Chablis. (Fruit of the Vine, New York, NY; also a Peter Vezan Selection; importers include The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; and Vin Divino, Chicago, IL)

Jean-Marie Guffens was a lot happier with his '99s than with the previous vintage, although he described the new crop of wines as average to good. "The '99 vintage would have been up there in quality with '97, '89 and '85 if quantities had been about 20% lower," he told me. "But it better to make a lot of good wines than a few bad ones," he added, referring to the '98s. From the outset, Guffens has been critical of the '98 vintage on the Cote de Beaune: due to the record-high grape prices paid by negociants Guffens feels that these wines represent poor value. (And the tiny size of the crop made it harder than usual for negociants to purchase high-quality raw materials.) Although I did not visit domains in the Maconnais this year, I have included notes on a number of the top Verget '99 bottlings from this region, the best of which offer stunning price/value rapport. Guffens knows where the best old vines are located, and he had his pick of outstanding material in '99. I have also reviewed the Verget 1999 Chablis bottlings. (Fruit of the Vine, New York, NY; also a Peter Vezan Selection; importers include Ideal Wines, Medford, MA; Barrique Wine Company/Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN; North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; and The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL)