2010 Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanée 1er Cru

Jean-Pierre Cournut picked his 2011 chardonnay during the first five days of September "with average acidity but healthy pHs. The malic acidity was much lower than in 2010." All of the malos were finished and the wines had just been sulfited for the second time two weeks before my visit. The 2010s have turned out very well here. With their combination of full ripeness and rather high acidity they should age well. But Cournut notes that the wines will be excellent in their youth owing to their mineral freshness. (Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Fine Vines, www.finevines.com; The Wine House Limited, www.winesf.com; Frederick Wildman & Sons, www.frederickwildman.com; and The Vintner Group, www.countryvintner.com)

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)