2001 Gevrey-Chambertin Cherbaudes 1er Cru

Two thousand two was not a really sunny summer but it was dry,' said Jean-Marie Fourrier. We had perfect phenolic ripeness, and the maturing of the fruit was never blocked by heat.The wines were also easy to vinify.'Average yields in 2002, according to Fourrier, were in the 32 to 33 hectoliters-per-hectare range, or about 10% higher than those of 2001.Fourrier uses SO2 only during the vinification and for the bottling, preferring instead to make use of higher levels of CO2 CO2 is a natural antioxidant, while SO2 is a chemical antioxidant,' he explains. (Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Shekomeko NY

The cloudy, damp weather in the three weeks prior to the 2001 vintage resulted in lower grape sugars and strong acidity, Jean-Marie Fourrier told me, as it was necessary to pick because rot was starting (Fourrier ultimately harvested in five days flat.) But the acids really helped with the extraction from the grapes, especially for those like me who don't normally do very extractive vinifications. Due to the high percentage of malic acidity, the wines were very tough to taste after the fermentations," Fourrier went on. Fourrier describes his laissez-faire approach to winemaking, in which he vinifies consistent with the style of the year and avoids any manipulations, as "the philosophy of doing nothing." The malos here did not start until July (some barrels still had not finished in November) and the wines had not yet been racked. The wines are not yet fat in the back of the mouth; they haven't gotten round yet," said Fourrier, who will bottle on the late side, between April and June. Incidentally, Fourrier is not an adherent of leaf-pulling, currently in vogue in Burgundy. If you remove leaves, you'll have less rot," he maintained. But you also compromise photosynthesis, so you get less ripeness and more acidity." What with Fourrier's enthusiasm and the large number of wines at this address, I found myself running late for my next appointment and had to be satisfied with a limited selection of Fourrier's 2000s. The Clos Saint-Jacques was a standout.