2002 Mazy-Chambertin Grand Cru

"The numbers at the harvest of 2003 were not good, but they're much better now," said Charles Rousseau.The Rousseaus harvested from August 23 through 31, on the early side and in the mornings only, for fear of losing more acidity. They threw away a lot of dried grapes, and most of those they kept were very small. The vinifications lasted a relatively short 10 days, versus a normal 15 or more here.Rousseau acidified the musts but noted that the pHs were always decent despite the low levels of acidity, and he observed that little acidity was lost during the malolactic fermentations.The wines had been racked in February of 2004 following the typically early malolactic fermentations here, and again in September."Today the wines are tasting fresh, but we don't know why," said Corinne Rousseau."Maybe they're not going to be for drinking right away.The grape sugars were in the 13% to 13.5% range, which is normal for us.And unlike 1997 and 1998, the wines show no overripe character.We don't understand that either."Incidentally, with the 2002 vintage, the Rousseaus introduced a new destemmer that doesn't crush the berries, and they report that it slows down the beginning of the fermentations by a day or two.

Vintage 2002 was a perfect year, like 1999 and 1996, said Corinne Rousseau: The wines are ripe, fine and balanced, with excellent acidity and length."Only the Lavaux Saint-Jacques was chaptalized.Yields in thegrand crus were around 32 hectoliters per hectare, or slightly lower than in 2001 and 2000.The estate carried out a green harvest in all its younger vines in 2002, as it has done each year since 1999.According to Rousseau, the 2002s are a bit less marked by terroir and more by sheer ripeness than the 2001s.I was knocked out by the young 2002s but underwhelmed by the finished 2001s, which had shown very well a year earlier.Once again, I couldn't help wondering how many Rousseau wines would be better served by less handling and earlier bottling.The young 2002s had been racked in January and February following the typically early malolactic fermentations, then again in late July or August.The estate's habit is to bottle late:the 2001s were bottled at the end of July 2003, which Rousseau described as "one month earlier than usual."