2003 Echézeaux Grand Cru

Etienne Grivot did as little extraction as possible in 2004-essentially no pumpovers at all and just one punchdown per day. "I vinified for freshness, velvety texture and charm," he said, "and for silky tannins. "Although he began with healthy grape sugars in the 12. 5% to 13. 2% range, he chaptalized all his cuvees lightly because he wanted to extend the fermentations by two or three days. Grivot describes 2004 as "a good medium-term ager, likely to be at its best between 4 and 15 years from now. "Grivot's top 2003s have turned out splendidly. They are rather gently styled wines that nonetheless show high-pitched mineral and floral tones rare for the year. "They combine the supple textures of 2000 and the spiciness of 2001," he said. Grivot was one of many winemakers who pointed out that the 2003s wines remain fresh a long time after the bottles are uncorked.

Grivot was a late picker in 2003, harvesting between September 2 and 8, and he is convinced he made the right decision."The grapes were more burned than ripe when some people started harvesting, and we needed to wait.A bit of rain on the 26th and 27th helped, the temperatures eventually went down, and we had some dew in the mornings, which really brought better maturity of the skins.Before the vines started working again after the 26th, the skins really gave a greenness, a bitterness.The vines' leaves took advantage of the rehydration."The malos here were as long as those of '02 or '99, Grivot reported.Grivot used 50% new oak for virtually all of his 2003s, or a bit more than usual.He believes that the new wood has served to reinforce the maturity of the tannins, and he was afraid of making "vulgar wines that would develop very quickly."If the wines don't get too reduced, he told me, he planned to hold off on bottling them.To this point at least, the 2003s are not at all oxidative, and their low levels of volatile acidity have enabled Grivot to go light on the sulfur additions, particularly to the Clos Vougeot and Richebourg, which were the last to finish their malos.These 2003s are among the early stars of the vintage, but then so are Grivot's 2002s.