2001 Saint-Aubin Charmois

Bernard Morey describes his 2002s and 2000s as vintages that are more minerally but less aromatic: that is, more accurate to the soil. The 2001s are more aromatic and fruit-driven," he adds, "with the nose currently dominating the palate." The 2002s will be for drinking after the 2001s, he believes; the new vintage featured the best levels of acidity since 1996. Morey told me he prefers 1999 to 2000; he describes the latter set of wines as strict and severe today. The 2002 malos here mostly finished between December and February, although the sugar fermentations were tricky; several cuvees finished with between 2 and 2.5 grams of residual sugar. I began by sampling a number of Morey's negociant bottlings, kept in a frigid cellar toward the top of the village of Chassagne-Montrachet.

Bernard Morey calls the 2001 vintage "tres aromatique and says that it reminds him of 1992 at this same stage. He also noted that the quality of the vintage is "surprisingly good", referring to all of the challenges that the vintage presented during the growing season. In contrast to many of his colleagues who believe that 2001 will remain open and accessible throughout its life, Morey told me that he is not sure if the vintage will close down in a year or two or not. Technically, Morey reports that maturity levels were similar to that of 1999 and 2000 though quantities were down approximately 10%. From a qualitative standpoint though, his view of wine quality is '99 first, '00 second and '01 as a close third. While drawing the comparison to the expressiveness of the �92s when young, he says that 2001 is more like "1997 but slightly better". The wines were bottled in late August after a light fining and filtration. And speaking of the Morey �99s, I opened a bottle of the '99 Truffieres and it is showing brilliantly, if still quite young; see Issue 3, page 78 for the review. Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL).

The maturity in 2001 came more from concentration of the grapes by wind than from sun, noted Morey, adding that the slight dehydration also reduced the volume of the grapes. The wines show a lot of smoky notes, and they are more marked by the vintage character than by their individual sites," he went on. The young wines are a bit youthfully tight today, almost like wines from a drought year." Morey added that the fermentations went slowly but well, and that the 2001s had finished a bit drier than the 2000s (despite the fact that fruit from old vines was typically higher in sugar than in 2000), which perhaps contributes to their impression of tightness. Still, he adds, "the 2001s are for drinking before the 2000s, as there less enveloping fat and less thoroughly ripe fruit flavor."