2003 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

It's extremely difficult to present these notes on Denis Mortet's wines so soon after his tragic suicide at the end of January, which came as a shock to Burgundy and to his many fans around the world. Mortet was in fine form when I tasted with him in November, and he was proud to present his young 2004s, which he described as "ultimately between a good and a very good vintage for me. "The grape sugars were as high as those of 2002 (all between 13% and 14%), the acids were a touch lower, and no chaptalization was done. "It's a classic Burgundy vintage," Mortet summarized. "The wines have very fine tannins and near-perfect balance, and offer a superb definition of terroir. "He did very little pigeage during the vinification and did not stir the lees because he felt that the wines already possessed sufficient concentration and texture. In recent vintages, Mortet had simplified his range of village wines, and in 2004 he planned to bottle only a single Gevrey-Chambertin villages. Mortet's 2003 are in the extreme style of the year, and it's hard to predict how they will age. "I learned a lot from 2003," he told me. "I could have done better. I could have made more elegant 2003s if I had done one more racking. "Mortet planned to keep his 2004 prices at the level of the 2003s, even though he raised his prices with the previous vintage, explaining that "the 2004s give me more pleasure. "

Mortet started harvesting on August 25 in 2003, bringing in fruit with potential alcohol ranging from 12.5% to 15%, and with the highest pHs and lowest acid levels to date.He carried out the same five or six days of cold maceration as usual, destemmed but did not crush his fruit, and then did a lighter extraction with less pigeage than usual ("I vinified 2003 like 2002," he told me).He kept the maximum amount of lees, putting the wines in barrel barely 24 hours after the pressing."The terroir was completely missing at the beginning, but the wines are gaining with elevage and now the terroir is returning," he told me.I was not wild for a few of the village wines, which could use a bit more shape and thrust, but Mortet's better 2003s are very good indeed.While they may well offer good medium-term aging potential, most of them should also offer pleasure in their youth (the 2002s, in contrast, really call for at least a few years of patience on the part of collectors).Beginning with vintage 2004, Mortet will dramatically simplify his portfolio by offering only two village wines from Gevrey-Chambertin:one from the oldest vines and the best terroirs (i.e., the old vines of en Motrot, and most of Combe de Dessus and en Derre) and another basic village wine.