2001 Meursault Perrières 1er Cru

In general, the 2002s are not overripe, Martin Prieur maintained, but there was a big decline in malic acidity around September 14 and 15, as the grapes ripened rapidly from the wind and sun. Crop levels were down from those of the previous year: in the 35 hectoliters-per-hectare range for the grand crus in 2002. A few of Domaine Prieur's 2001s were still in tank awaiting the bottling at the beginning of June. This is not at all a fragile year," pointed out enologist Nadine Gublin. The 2001 white wines may not be quite as pure as the 2000s, but they are more vibrant and more dense, with greater aging potential." Still, she added, the uneven growing season required a lot of work in the vines, and ripening was irregular, even within the same grape clusters.

Martin Prieur told me that 2000 is purer than 2001 because 2001 is "perhaps too ripe and the fruit was not quite as healthy and certainly not as uniform in quality. We also had a few of our Meursault vineyards touched by the hail that hit Volnay. Sugars ranged from 12.5 to 13.8%." I did not find the quality of 2001 to be substantially inferior to the Prieur 2000s across the board however though I would agree with him that chez Prieur though, '99 is better than 2000 and 2000 is slightly better than 2001. There is a glaring exception to this though as the quality of the 2001 Corton-Charlemagne is nothing short of stellar. I tasted the wines in March just before they were to be bottled; the Clos de Mazeray and the Feguine had just been bottled. The 2001s will be bottled earlier than either the 2000s or the �99s as the 2000s were not bottled until May and the �99s until July. W.J Deutsch Sons, White Plains, NY).

The grapes were healthier in both 1999 and 2000 than in 2001, admitted Martin Prieur, but a severe green harvest resulted in a smaller crop in the most recent vintage. In 2001 we had a bit of rot, with the result that the fruit was more fragile," he said. Although the pinot noir had no rot, in chardonnay we had everything from green to rotten grapes. We were pulling leaves until just four or five days before the harvest in order to open up the fruit to the sun and dry out the grapes." Grape sugars were higher in 2000 than in 2001, said Prieur, who noted that this was because the domain harvested especially late in 2000. Enologist Nadine Gublin described the aromas in 2001 as heavier due to the fragility of the grapes. At the time of my visit, she planned to rack a number of wines only prior to the bottling, and noted that the juice aging in new barrels was showing very little reduction.