2002 Meursault Genevrieres

Coutoux, who is not a fan of the 2003 vintage for chardonnay, does not like to add tartaric acidity and thus added very little to his musts in 2003-"just enough to control the vinifications. "Alcohol levels for the 2003 crus are typically between 13. 5% and 14%. When I mentioned to Coutoux that a number of his neighbors told me that their 2003s are resisting oxidation well in barrel, Coutoux noted that this might be because so much SO2 was added to the musts in the first place. Coutoux doesn't do much cold-settling of his juice, but he doesn't do much stirring of the lees either, using this technique only in the early days. Still, some of Coutoux's 2003s were distinctly heavy and exotic at the beginning of June. span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> (New Castle Imports, Myrtle Beach SC

Coutoux told me he has worked with pretty much the same appellations and sources over the past three vintages, which certainly makes a negociant s line-up of wines easier to follow. Coutoux described the 2001 and 2000 vintages as roughly similar, "with nice fruit, aromas and balance but some wines lacking richness." Vintage 2002, he says, yielded richer, more complete, more structured wines that are also livelier owing to their strong acids. Coutoux stirs the lees only until mid-November, as he fears that doing too much batonnage would risk dissipating the carbonic gas that keeps the wines fresh. I tasted the 2002s in Coutoux's tiny cellar at the top of the village of Chassagne-Montrachet, where he had just 41 barrels of wine. The equivalent of another 20 barrels' worth were aging in cuve at the beginning of June.