2001 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Jean-Pierre Cournut professes to very much like the 2001 vintage, calling it "tres flatteur and certainly more forward than 2000 with more fat yet no lack of acidity. One of the really interesting characteristics of the vintage is how naturally buttery it is but it remains extremely fresh. They are essentially wines of pleasure." He told me that he places 2001 between 1997 and 1998 in terms of quality and stylistically it is almost a blend of the two though unlike '98, "we had no rot problems in 2001." As I discussed in Issue 7, Cornut professes to have no set policy for new oak, explaining that he attempts to match the wood to the wine. For the 2000s, this meant that the Batard saw 100%, the biggest 1ers 80% but the remaining 1ers saw 30% and the villages wine 10%. And in another twist, he prefers a short levage of 12 months but with "plenty of wood." The whites are bottled just before the harvest, usually but not always after fining and filtration. Be this policy as it is, there is clearly ample oak in the wines but they have the important benefit of possessing excellent fruit and good densities so it comes down to a question of style and preference. The 2001s were bottled in September and I tasted them in February.

Jean-Pierre Cournut had just finished an extensive cellar expansion, and we tasted the bottled 2001 in an airy new underground space. Cournut loves his 2000 whites for their balance but also agreed with my opinion that 2001 may have favored the wines of Chassagne-Montrachet over those of Puligny and Meursault. There's no question that we were less affected by some of the August thunderstorms in 2001," he noted. Cournut's 2001s showed fairly tight, and clearly benefitted from aeration. Actually, they become quite fat and buttery with time in a carafe," said Cournut. Cournut's 2002s look to be strong examples of the vintage. Grape sugars were high (the sugar fermentations were difficult), but the concentration of the fruit occurred without any loss of acidity, according to Cournut. He used a bit more SO2 than usual at the end of the malolactic fermentations for fear of getting too much volatile acidity. The malos were mostly finished at the time of my visit, and the barrels I sampled had been sulfited but not yet racked. (Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Glazer's Wholesale Distributing, Dallas, TX; Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; The Wine House, San Francisco, CA; Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; and The Country Vintner, Oilville, VA)

Jean-Pierre Cournut told me that the fruit in 2001 was harvested within a very narrow range of ripeness and acidity, and that the young wines are fatter than the 2000s were at the same stage of their evolution. Cournut also maintained that there was next to no rot in 2001, and reported that the 2001s tasted "almost too good now." Vinification here takes place at cool temperature in thermo-regulated tanks to preserve freshness, and the wines benefit from aging in a cellar that gets very cold in the winter. The malolactic fermentations often take place very late, but this year they were finished at the time of my visit, and the wines had been sulfited. Incidentally, Cournut admitted that he uses "more new oak than some think is ideal" but noted that the wines stay in the new barrels for a shorter duration, as he bottles all of his wines prior to the following harvest. (Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Glazer Wholesale Distributing, Dallas, TX; Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; The Wine House, San Francisco, CA; Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; and The Country Vintner, Oilville, VA)