1999 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers 1er Cru

The 20th century went out with a bang for red Burgundy lovers, with the 1999 vintage producing copious quantities of excellent to outstanding wine.

From the outset, the 1999 red Burgundies offered a rare combination of charm and power. Most of the better wines were balanced and alluring from the start, but they are evolving very slowly and still have plenty of life ahead of them. While many of the ‘99s I sampled with the producers this winter have gone through sullen stages in bottle, most of them have launched into their periods of peak drinkability. If you own these wines – and especially if you chose wisely at the outset – you will be amply rewarded.

Francois Faiveley, who was recovering from surgery on his lower back, described his 2000s as "a vintage good to drink over the next eight to ten years, more pleasant and elegant in its youth than either '99 or '98." The key was to control quantity, he added. Even with severe pruning, it was possible to get an enormous crop that lacked concentration, as the grapes tended to be swelled by rain. Faiveley noted that fruit from his own vines was much better than the fruit he buys, owing to the green harvest the house carried out in July. "The extent of rot and the size of the berries were critical in 2000," noted Faiveley. Faiveley tends to pick early in hopes of retaining acidity. "We need to preserve the spine of the wine," he explained. "We can always add sugar if we need it." Still, in November a few of the 2000s gave the impression of having been picked before optimum ripeness.

According to export director Christophe Voisin, Francois Faiveley now believes that using saignee to concentrate the must is a mistake, "because the juice you remove using this technique contains some of the grape finest ingredients. We'd much rather cut off excess grapes in July and August," added Voisin, "as we did in '99. Still, yields were full across the board." The '99 harvest brought fruit with a bit less sugar than the previous year, notes Voisin; the wines are charming and fairly large. Acidity levels are good, but a bit lower than those of '98. Vatting time was a couple of days longer in '99 in an attempt to extract more color and tannic support. Indeed, the '99s showed very well in November, and perhaps deceptively forward. "As Guy Faiveley [Francois's father] used to say," noted Voisin, "you can drink them young like fromage blanc or wait until they're Camembert."