2000 Gevrey-Chambertin Motrot

Like Claude and Bernard Dugat, Denis Mortet received special permission from the authorities to start picking his fruit in 2002 two days prior to the official ban de vendange because he was afraid that the grapes would be too ripe if he waited any longer. In 2001, Mortet had a fairly small crop due to millerandage and small berries-in the 32 to 40 hectoliters per hectare range in most of his crus, whereas 2000 brought crop levels routinely in excess of 40 h/h. Grape sugars in 2001 were lower than those of the previous four years, but acidity levels were sound and there was no rot due to the thicker skins. We didn't have enough sunshine during September to have a great year," Mortet explained. I feared making wines that would be too hard, so I avoided overextracting, reducing the number of punchdowns but not the length of the cuvaison

After underperforming compared to his colleagues in Gevrey-Chambertin in 1999, primarily by harvesting grapes swelled by rain, Mortet has returned to form in 2000, with a set of wines that are rich with natural alcohol yet accurate to their sites. The always-candid Mortet made a point of telling me he now looking for less extraction than he practiced as recently as 1998, and is trying to allow the terroir to express itself. None of the 2000s had yet been racked in November.