2003 Meursault Village

Fichet compared the 2004 vintage to past large crops that produced wines of high quality, like 1982 and 1979, but does not think the new wines are in the same class as what he described as "the great 2002s." Still, he added, "When we picked late in 2004, we were able to get unctuous, fat wines." Fichet sorted his fruit to eliminate the most swollen clusters. He was one of several winemakers who told me that a few of his wines were affected by graisse (literally, fat-a malady caused by a bacteria that can develop in an anaerobic environment during the malolactic fermentation), which can give wines in barrel an oily, ropy, filament-like appearance and texture. Winemakers are normally able to eliminate this problem by giving their wines a vigorous racking, with strong oxygenation, but it often takes a good deal of forbearance not to carry out this racking earlier than would be best for the longer-term health of the wines. Fichet is not a fan of the 2003s (he told me last year he wished he had harvested earlier), but the finished wines he showed me were less extreme than I feared last spring. While they don't have the perfume and precision typical of his wines, they are certainly user-friendly. (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)

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