2001 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru

Jean-Marc Pillot's highly impressive 2002s offer the exhilarating sugar/acid balance of this vintage at its best. The fermentations were long, leaving behind healthy levels of residual sugar," he told me. But we got concentration in the days leading up to the harvest from evaporation of water in the grapes, rather than from sheer heat, which would have resulted in a drop in acidity and unbalanced wines. The evaporation concentrated all the elements, the grape sugars and the acids." Pillot added that he needed to pick his Chassagne fruit a couple of days later than in Puligny as the fruit was not quite as ripe. In the end, though, virtually no chaptalization was needed. Incidentally, with his cellar fully air-conditioned for the first time in 2002, Pillot carried out a cooler fermentation, with the temperature a very low 50oF at the end, when the wines went into barrel, and Pillot feels this approach was good for the wines' aromatics.

With very irregular ripeness in 2001, it was necessary to do a better job of selection, to pick only in ripe spots," said Jean-Marc Pillot, who told me that he produced between 45 and 50 hectoliters per hectare in most of his premier cru vineyards. Ultimately, he added, the 2001s are a bit riper than the 2000s. Pillot did long, cool fermentations using only wild yeasts followed by a "rapid but strong" decanting of the wine. As the wines were richer and lower in acidity than those of 2000, he felt that less batonnage was called for. The village wines in particular, Pillot added, are for drinking before the '00s due to their softer acidity. But the pHs in 2001 were healthy even if the acids were on the low side, Pillot maintains. This continues to be one of the best sources for modern-style Chassagne-Montrachet; the finished 2000s are among the stronger wines of the appellation.