2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux 1er Cru

x000D The always-candid Jean-Marie Fourrier described 2008 as "the most difficult vintage of the last 15 years." The weather "was like what we had in the 1970s, where we were often just at the limit of phenolic maturity. In 2008, there was actually more variation of color than of grape sugars: some berries were red on one side and pink on the other. And you can't cut berries in half!" In the end, Fourrier threw out 20% to 30% of the less-colored fruit but noted that rot was not an issue due to the cold weather in September. Fourrier started picking on September 27 but noted that "there wasn't much change in the grapes since it was in the low 40s in the mornings and upper 50s in the afternoons." Grape sugars ranged from 11.2% to 11.5% and Fourrier told me he chaptalized between 0.6 and 1.0 degree. He went on: "It was important not to pull leaves too early, because leaves are the vines' solar panels. And it makes no sense to do it in July since that's too early for rot to appear. It's really a function of estates having employees around in July." The young 2008s were very difficult to taste here due to the long and difficult malos, which Fourrier attributed to the high levels of malic acidity and to the summer rains, which washed off the grapes' natural yeasts and bacteria. Fourrier had moved most of his wines to tanks in October, putting them in a fermentation room that he could heat. Most were nearly finished with their malos by the time of my visit in early November. Fourrier told me he hated his 2008s until about two weeks before my visit, and has found them especially hard to taste in recent months as they "appear to alternate between oxidative and reductive virtually every day."