1999 Echézeaux Grand Cru

"Two thousand is a year of great ripeness, but with better acidity and freshness than 1997," notes Etienne Grivot. "1997 was the first hugely ripe year that I vinified, and I was able to learn from the experience. I picked earlier in 2000 because I don't like aromas of surmaturite " Grivot told me he'd rather pick pinot noir at 12.5% potential alcohol than at 13.5%; in the very ripe harvest of 2000, his levels of potential alcohol ranged from 12.7% all the way up to 14%. He noted that the 2000 vintage is especially good for "the severe terroirs like Clos Vougeot," an observation that was repeatedly shown to be accurate during my extensive barrel tastings in November. Following late malolactic fermentations, the 2000s were still on their lees, unracked, in early November. Fans of this domain wines will not be surprised by Grivot's admission that, since 1998, "I've been trying to make less introverted, less monolithic wines. I want to make more seductive, likable wines but without risking their aging potential." Indeed, Grivot maintains, one can drink the '99s any time due to their harmoniousness. They possess great material but they are also very sophisticated wines, with suave tannins.

Etienne Grivot was in the midst of racking his '99s when I stopped by for a visit in November. Even though half of the wines still had some unconverted malic acidity, probably due to their substantial acids and tannins, they needed aeration, he explained. ("Showing you my wines with some malic acidity, or just racked, is like presenting my children not dressed properly, or unclean," he told me.) And the racking will speed up the end of the malos, he said, adding that such excellent vintages as 1990, '93, '95 and '96 were also characterized by protracted secondary fermentations. Grivot describes 1999 as "a vintage of great harmony, serious even at the level of the village wines. The wines should be indestructible, though not quite as indestructible as the '96s." Grivot harvested on the late side, picking a good deal of his crop after the rains of September 24 and 25. But at least some water was needed to invigorate the vines, he noted. "Yes, there was some loss of concentration in the late-picked fruit, but the grapes also gained in skin maturity in the last several days. The rain really arrived too late, but it was better than no rain at all." Yields were very generous, and following a strict selection Grivot made about 50 hectoliters per hectare. A number of the cuvees were concentrated via saignee of 6% to 8%. Needless to say, my notes on wines that had not finished their malolactic fermentations must be taken as provisional in nature.