2002 Meursault Les Boucheres

Jean-Marc Roulot harvested between August 25 and 30, bringing in grapes that he described as "not hugely rich in alcohol" (his Meursault Perrieres was highest, at 13. 9%). Roulot was one of a few vignerons who told me that at the outset he planned to rack and bottle his wines earlier than normal but then had a change of heart, as he found that the wines were changing in a positive direction in barrel and resisting oxidation well. Roulot noted that although he had raised his prices a good 15% between 2001 and 2002, vintage 2003 did not merit a further price hike. (Kermit Lynch, Berkeley CA Parliament Wine Company, Atlantic City NJ

The 2002s will give immediate pleasure, said Jean-Marc Roulot, adding that during vinification and elevage it has been necessary to privilege and protect the fruit. My 1999 vintage was great; it's to drink in 20 years," said Roulot. But 2002 is so good now, so seductive, we have to wonder whether it will last, and what it will become." Roulot reported grape sugars in the healthy but hardly excessive 12% to 12.6% range; those wines at the top of this range were chaptalized only to 12.8% or 12.9%. Roulot told me he crushes his chardonnay grapes because that releases acidity, which in turn facilitates quicker fermentation of the sugars. The 2001 Meursaults, which Roulot describes as "pure wines with good acids, though fragile," were bottled between January and March of 2003. Because a number of these wines were beginning to go "appley" in the barrel, Roulot finished their elevage in tank "to slow down their development."