2012 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Vergers 1er Cru

"We started with very low pHs in 2013, and a lot of malic acidity," Jean-Marc Pillot told me at the end of May."After the malos, the wines are now a bit light in acidity."Pillot picked virtually all of his chardonnay between September 29 and October 3, before substantial rain began on the night of the 4th, beginning with grape sugars in the 12.6% range and chaptalizing, on average, to about 13.2%."If you had huge crop levels, you couldn't get the grapes ripe," he maintained, adding that he produced about 40 hectoliters per hectare, compared to barely 20 the previous year owing largely to widespread frost on May 17."The ripeness was delayed in 2012 and the wines retained good acidity," he said, "and there was no surmaturite."Incidentally, Pillot put his 2012s in stainless steel tanks in September of 2013 for the last seven months of their elevage.He reported that they had "eaten" all of their SO2 by December and thus he was worried about grand cru wines at other estates that were bottled in September."But 2012s that were harvested well and bottled late will be very good agers," he concluded.

Pillot, who believes that "premox is over," at least for him, told me that since 2005 he has changed everything."For starters, all elevage is now for 18 months, which helps to stabilize the wines," he told me at the end of May."And the wines are no longer 'too good young'."Pillot bottles with 35 to 40 ppm free sulfur, and 100 total, noting that his sulfur additions are mostly during the first months in tank, with less needed at the bottling stage.Following the "chiseled, diamond-like 2010s," Pillot feared that the 2011s would be too fat, but the last six months in cuve, he said, "gave tension to the wines, with the toasty vanilla side disappearing."Pillot describes the 2012s as "a very small and concentrated crop, with the vines producing just two or three bunches of grapes.They will be opulent wines."Most of the 2012s were chaptalized and acidity and pH levels are sound, he said, adding that "the thick skins saved the grapes from maladies, and there wasn't a lot of juice in the grapes."Pillot compared his 2012s to his 2009s, "but with more vivacity."