2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Les Pavots

Heat was the key word in 2002," said winemaker Luc Morlet. It was the hottest vintage yet in my 12 years here.We were saved by our elevation, our cooler nighttime temperatures and good air circulation.Ultimately it was a matter of waiting to pick, of continually tasting the fruit."I found the set of young 2002 chardonnays to be among the finest to date at Peter Michael, which means that they're about as good as it gets in California. The 2002 vintage shows all the power and richness of California chardonnay," Morlet agrees. They're dry, minerally and rich, and should age well."

Winemaker Luc Morlet described the Jekyll and Hyde character of the 2001 vintage in this way: "Frost in the spring cut yields, especially in chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. Then strong wind damaged the canopy at the beginning of May. Then we had a bit of rain during the early part of the chardonnay flowering. Then we had one of the hottest vintages yet, with morning fog moderating the heat here and nature limiting the yields. The sugars went up faster than the flavors so it was necessary to let the fruit hang. We picked chardonnay from the end of August until the end of October, though most of the fruit came in during late September and early October. The small yields and full ripeness gave a great expression of the individual terroirs in 2001." The line-up of Peter Michael 2001s showed impressively in early March.

New winemaker Luc Morlet, who previously was at Newton Winery for five years, describes Peter Michael's 2000s as similar to the 1999s: both were cool seasons in which the fruit retained acidity well, although 2000 saw some rain during the latter part of the harvest. For the third consecutive year, Peter Michael harvested into November. Yields in 2000 were in the 2.5 tons per acre range, slightly higher than those of the previous year. I also got an early look at the winery's potentially monumental Les Pavots 2001, the first vintage to include a bit of petit verdot. Some lots received up to 53 days of maceration, according to Morlet, who noted than even the seeds were brown and thus there was little fear of extracting hard tannins.