1998 Côte-Rôtie

Bernard Burgaud produced 38 hectoliters per hectare in 1999, the same as in the previous year, despite the fact that there were two separate hailstorms before and during the flowering in '99. Like Jean-Paul Jamet, Burgaud told me that the hailed-on vines were especially high in sugar and acidity. "The vines stayed without vegetation for three weeks after the hailstorm," said Burgaud. "You would think that this would have retarded the maturity of the fruit, but it didn't. I've never seen something like this happen." Burgaud '99 will ultimately be bottled with alcohol in the low-13% range, very high for a grower who is always among the first in the appellation to harvest. The '98, meanwhile, is in-your-face Cote-Rotie, impressively dense but not for the squeamish. (Alain Junguenet/Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; Martine's Wines, San Rafael, CA; Europvin/Christopher Cannan Selections, Watertown, MA)

Although Bernard Burgaud feels that his '98 Cote-Rotie will be a vin de garde he does not believe it will support an extended elevage. "The fruit in my wines typically develops quickly after the next harvest [i.e., the following fall], especially in older barrels," notes Burgaud. "The wine goes beyond primary fruit relatively early. Thus there's more to lose than to gain by waiting to bottle." Indeed, even the '98 juice in new barrels was showing compelling, sappy fruit in November rather than just oak-putting the developing wine, according to Burgaud, a bit ahead of schedule. (Alain Junguenet/Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; Martine's Wines, San Rafael, CA; Europvin/Christopher Cannan Selections, Watertown, MA)