2009 Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanée 1er Cru

According to Jean-Pierre Cournut, 2004 is the best of recent vintages, followed by 2008. "Two thousand nine is great for the minerally terroirs, and 2010 is for serious connoisseurs," he added. "Of course, 2010 is also a potentially great vintage, like all high-acid years." Cournut started harvesting on September 20 in 2010, and his wines finished extremely dry, with 0.5 grams per liter of residual sugar, which is about as low as Burgundy gets. Cournut's 2009s showed superbly at the beginning of June; they were bottled before the harvest of 2010 and should drink well earlier than most vintages here. (Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; The Wine House Limited, San Francisco, CA; Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; and The Country Vintner, Oilville, VA)

Like a number of his neighbors in Chassagne-Montrachet, Jean-Pierre Cournut is convinced that 2009 will be superb for red wine ("like 2005"); he's a little less quick to venture a judgment on the whites, but he says that the wines taste very good now. Cournut now does little or no batonnage-"just during the sugar fermentation." He told me he stopped stirring the lees with the 2008 vintage "to get fresher wines." The 2008s here are rich but lively; they typically convey an impression of sweet fruit but in fact they are extremely low in residual sugar. (Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; The Wine House Limited, San Francisco, CA; Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; and The Country Vintner, Oilville, VA)