1996 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Jean Marc Pillot began picking his 1997 pinot noir early (on September 17), but says he was still on the late side, in retrospect, as polyphenols plunged after September 21. By the time he got around to harvesting chardonnay, he found that the grapes had lost a lot of water as much as 20% of their volume and had gained a full degree of potential alcohol. But acids had also declined, and pHs were rather high. The alcoholic fermentations, which are now done with only indigenous yeasts, were protracted, and the wines finished with around two grams per liter residual sugar, which has accentuated their impression of richness (in comparison, the '96s finished with barely a gram of sugar). I found the new vintage impressively rich and easy to taste, with several wines reminding me of Alsace VTs. Pillot describes these somewhat exotic wines as a cross between 1992 and 1989. Pillot '96s were mostly sold out, but three of the four wines I was able to taste were stunning. He used a bit less new oak in '96 than in '95 (but still more than most of his colleagues in Chassagne Montrachet), though he claims that the higher percentage of new wood worked well for the small '95 crop. (A Patrick Lesec Selection; importers include The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; Monsieur Touton, New York, NY; Fine Vines, Maywood, IL; and Adventures in Wine, Daly City, CA)