2001 Meursault Luchets

Jean-Marc Roulot describes the 2001 vintage as "very lively yet already very open and it seems a lot like 1997 to me but better as there is better acidity". That said, like '97 he suggests that the 2001s will drink well early and not really make old bones. Roulot went on to observe that "it was extremely difficult to make fine wine as we were touched, if not devastated by the hail. The hail didn't really cause us rot problems so much as it rendered the grapes fragile and thus we had to be very careful with our triage work and subsequent pressing". Yields were in the 25-35 hl/ha range for the 1ers and 45 to 50 for the villages wines. He also noted that 2001 "is a tender vintage so we racked sooner than normal, did an assemblage of the juice and then I divided the villages level wines 50/50 between oak and stainless because I was afraid they would soak up too much of the oak if I didn't limit the exposure". He went on to say that with the exception of the Bourgogne, he will bottle earlier as well, in this case in January rather than his usual March to April time frame; Roulot said however that he may delay the mise for the 1ers a bit longer. Note: the 2001 Boucheres was still on its fining material and thus was not available to be evaluated.

The 2002s will give immediate pleasure, said Jean-Marc Roulot, adding that during vinification and elevage it has been necessary to privilege and protect the fruit. My 1999 vintage was great; it's to drink in 20 years," said Roulot. But 2002 is so good now, so seductive, we have to wonder whether it will last, and what it will become." Roulot reported grape sugars in the healthy but hardly excessive 12% to 12.6% range; those wines at the top of this range were chaptalized only to 12.8% or 12.9%. Roulot told me he crushes his chardonnay grapes because that releases acidity, which in turn facilitates quicker fermentation of the sugars. The 2001 Meursaults, which Roulot describes as "pure wines with good acids, though fragile," were bottled between January and March of 2003. Because a number of these wines were beginning to go "appley" in the barrel, Roulot finished their elevage in tank "to slow down their development."

Jean-Marc Roulot described the grape sugars in 2001 as "on the low side, about 12.2% to 12.7% in the village wines and 12.8% to 13% for the crus. The hailstorm on August 2 destroyed much of the vegetation, which in turn blocked the maturing process in such vineyards as Tessons, Luchets and Meix Chavaux." Roulot did a gentle pressing following the harvest and due to the fragility of the grape skins carried out very little batonnage Like a number of his colleagues in the village of Meursault, Roulot continues to view 1999 as the best of the recent vintages. The rain affected the village wines more than the crus in 2000," said Roulot. The result is that they don't have the purity or nobility of the '99s, not the same definition of terroir