1999 Meursault Les Boucheres

Jean-Marc Roulot describes the 2001 vintage as "very lively yet already very open and it seems a lot like 1997 to me but better as there is better acidity". That said, like '97 he suggests that the 2001s will drink well early and not really make old bones. Roulot went on to observe that "it was extremely difficult to make fine wine as we were touched, if not devastated by the hail. The hail didn't really cause us rot problems so much as it rendered the grapes fragile and thus we had to be very careful with our triage work and subsequent pressing". Yields were in the 25-35 hl/ha range for the 1ers and 45 to 50 for the villages wines. He also noted that 2001 "is a tender vintage so we racked sooner than normal, did an assemblage of the juice and then I divided the villages level wines 50/50 between oak and stainless because I was afraid they would soak up too much of the oak if I didn't limit the exposure". He went on to say that with the exception of the Bourgogne, he will bottle earlier as well, in this case in January rather than his usual March to April time frame; Roulot said however that he may delay the mise for the 1ers a bit longer. Note: the 2001 Boucheres was still on its fining material and thus was not available to be evaluated. Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, CA and Parliament Wines, Atlantic City, NJ).

Like so many of his colleagues in Meursault, Roulot favors '99 over '00. Sugars and acids were a bit higher in '99, but, even more important, the wines show great purity of flavor. "1999 on paper is quite like '92 in acidity and maturity," said Roulot. "Like '92 and '82, the '99s are very true to their terroir " At the beginning of September 2000, Roulot expected to start harvesting his chardonnay on the 13th of the month, and had his team in place. But following the rainstorm, he started instead on his pinot noir and Bourgogne, holding off until the 16th for his Meursaults. The rain, he admits, resulted in a bit of rot and some loss of purity. Still, notes Roulot, "if 2000 had followed a vintage like '93 or '94, we'd be much more enthusiastic about this year."

Roulot tends to harvest on the early side to retain acidity but has a light hand with chaptalization. The village wines in '99 are generally in the moderate 12.6%-12.9% range, with no added sugar. Roulot did very little debourbage because the lees were healthy, but then stirred the lees "only six or seven times in total." Still, he did a long levage on the lees because he felt that the '99 wines lacked flesh. The malos were finished at the time of my visit; Roulot planned to rack for the first time at the end of August. Roulot uses about 20% new oak for the village wines and 33% for his premier crus.