2002 Meursault Village

The wiry, sculpted Fichet, a serious bicyclist, carries a much lower percentage of body fat than most wines made in Meursault. His wines, not surprisingly, are normally characterized by their aromatic precision and balance. It should come as no surprise that he does not like the style of 2003. The vines on the plain suffered less from the extreme heat," he told me, "but those on the hillside were often burned by the relentless sun. Chardonnay normally likes cool nights and slow ripening. Needless to say, the summer of 2003 was not the climate for chardonnay!The wines remind me of Cotes du Rhones, or of viognier. "Fichet showed me some technical information that showed that temperatures from June through the first half of August were much hotter even than in past heat-wave years like '61, '49 and '47. Fichet started harvesting on August 24, but noted that if he had to do it over again he would have started a week earlier. I tasted only a few of Fichet's 2003s as most of them still had significant residual sugar at the end of May. Although he describes the vintage as "difficult," Fichet noted that the wines are resisting oxidation well in barrel and are not absorbing SO2 quickly. Fichet's finished 2002s, not surprisingly, show superb purity of flavor and mineral cut. (Domaines et Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include USA Wine Imports, New York NY Glazer's Wholesale Distributing, Dallas TX Fine Vines, Melrose Park IL A. Bommarito Wines, St. Louis MO and The Wine House Limited, San Francisco CA