1998 Gevrey-Chambertin Motrot

Before I had the chance to swirl and spit a single wine, the uncommonly forthright Denis Mortet told me at some length that he had blown it in '99. "I have no one to blame but myself," he began. "Morally and physically I was tired at the time of the vintage; I was having problems with my health, my workers, everything. I waited too long to begin picking-on the Monday after the big storm Sunday night-even though the weather forecast for the weekend had been bad. And then I picked my best crus after the rains of the following Thursday and Friday, in the worst climate conditions. The grapes swelled, losing sugars and acids. I didn't even recognize my grapes when I picked them. I'm not proud of what I did in '99," he concluded. Unhappy with his raw materials, Mortet bled off 7% to 10% of the juice in all his cuvees beginning with the Gevrey Champeaux, in the process gaining some texture and fruit. The wines started out very tannic, said Mortet, but have been taking on flesh with levage I found a number of them a bit hollow in the middle, but they may yet fill out before they are bottled in early spring. Still, several of Mortet '99s seem overwhelmed to varying degrees by their 100% new oak. Mortet's '98s, on the other hand, are wonderfully concentrated, deeply colored wines, with the sheer material to support their strong new oak components. And Mortet was also enthusiastic about the 2000 vintage. "I was in a much better frame of mind, and had a great harvest."

"I'm not a rocket scientist when it comes to vinification," admits Denis Mortet. "The quality of my wines is a function of the grapes, not the work in the winery. I get my extraction in the vines, very little through vinification." Mortet went for ampleur and aromatic complexity in '98, for finesse over sheer extraction. He did a rather gentle pigeage and tried to extend the fermentations in order to avoid getting hard tannins. Mortet added leaf-pulling to his repertoire of viticultural techniques in '97 and did it again in '98 in order to get riper fruit earlier. "I had five guys out in Lavaux Saint-Jacques the Friday before the harvest, pulling off leaves on the south side of the vines in order to get more sun on the grapes," said Mortet. Potential alcohols in '98 ranged from 12.2% to as high as 13.6%. Mortet carried out a pre-fermentation cold soak lasting seven to nine days. All of the '98s noted below are aging in 100% new oak.