2000 Meursault Les Clous

Interestingly, winemaker Philippe Prost feels that 2000 was the most successful vintage of the last three for white wines here, as Bouchard benefitted by harvesting its domain grapes early to retain acidity. The 2000 whites were like the 1999 reds for us," added managing director Bernard Hervet, "a consistently excellent set of wines. The 2001 whites were much more variable, with big differences by appellation. But the grand crus were harvested with very good grape sugars, and the premier crus as well. Yields were generally highest in Puligny-Montrachet. We wanted to pick the chardonnay with a good sugar/acid balance," noted Prost, "and thus it was necessary to wait for the stubbornly high acids to come down." Bouchard did even more green-harvesting in 2001 than it had the previous summer to bring down yields. It will be interesting to see whether the new vintage will ultimately match the 2000s for depth of flavor.

Managing director Bernard Hervet describes the Bouchard 2000 whites as very clean, pure, linear wines, from rot-free fruit picked early to retain acidity. "We can compare these wines in quality to '92 or '89," he told me at the end of May, adding that they're a bit lower in acidity than the '99s. Bouchard actually purchased 35% less fruit and must in '00 than in '99, said Hervet, and declassified or sold off a good bit of pinot noir from the Cote de Beaune. But the chardonnay grapes were healthy. "We looked for longer pressing, longer contact with the skins," winemaker Philippe Prost told me. "We began with clean grapes and were able to look for richness of flavor." Incidentally, Bouchard does batonnage by rolling the barrels, thus avoiding any unnecessary addition of oxygen.