2002 Le Montrachet

The Amiots, who started harvesting in 2003 on August 27, made an average of just 30 hectoliters per hectare of chardonnay (and 20 of pinot noir) due to hail, frost and drought conditions. Still, Guy Amiot pointed out that in the Morgeot/Clos St. Jean sector of Chassagne-Montrachet, the vines suffered more from the stress of frost and hail than from lack of water and blockage of maturity during the peak of summer. In the weeks leading up to the harvest, there was a considerable fall in the grapes' acidity, he added. Amiot was aging the 2003s in 40% to 50% new oak, up from his normal one-third. All the malolactic fermentations had finished and the wines had been sulfited two or three months prior to my visit. (Kermit Lynch, Berkeley CA also Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Boston Wine Company, Boston MA The Country Vintner, Oilville VA and Margaux Imports, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

The 2002s are both fatter and more structured than the 2001s," Guy Amiot told me at the end of May, "with at least as much acidity. One important difference is that we made 20% less wine in 2002. Grape sugars for the premier crus were in the 13.3% to 13.8% range, about a half-degree higher than the 2001s." (Later in our tasting, Amiot described his young 2002s as a bit like his '89s but with more acidity.) Amiot and his son Thierry, who has been in charge of the vines and the vinification for the past three years, stirred the lees every ten days or so until the end of the malolactic fermentations. At the time of my visit, they planned to rack the wines at the end of June, fine them in mid-July, and bottle at the end of August, though it's possible that they found it necessary to move up the bottling dates. Amiot noted that the estate does not exceed 25% to 30% new oak for its premier crus and will probably cut the percentage to 20% in the near future. (Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, CA; also Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Boston Wine Company, Boston, MA; the Country Vintner, Oilville, VA; and Margaux Imports, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)