1999 Meursault Luchets

Like so many of his colleagues in Meursault, Roulot favors '99 over '00. Sugars and acids were a bit higher in '99, but, even more important, the wines show great purity of flavor. "1999 on paper is quite like '92 in acidity and maturity," said Roulot. "Like '92 and '82, the '99s are very true to their terroir " At the beginning of September 2000, Roulot expected to start harvesting his chardonnay on the 13th of the month, and had his team in place. But following the rainstorm, he started instead on his pinot noir and Bourgogne, holding off until the 16th for his Meursaults. The rain, he admits, resulted in a bit of rot and some loss of purity. Still, notes Roulot, "if 2000 had followed a vintage like '93 or '94, we'd be much more enthusiastic about this year."

Roulot tends to harvest on the early side to retain acidity but has a light hand with chaptalization. The village wines in '99 are generally in the moderate 12.6%-12.9% range, with no added sugar. Roulot did very little debourbage because the lees were healthy, but then stirred the lees "only six or seven times in total." Still, he did a long levage on the lees because he felt that the '99 wines lacked flesh. The malos were finished at the time of my visit; Roulot planned to rack for the first time at the end of August. Roulot uses about 20% new oak for the village wines and 33% for his premier crus.