2002 Marsannay Boivin

Philippe Roty told me he de-leafed early in 2003 on the north and west side of the vines, thus getting the grapes used to the sun.He started harvesting on August 29, after the worst of the heat. Roty told me he leaves only two branches on the vines in the fall, then prunes again in March.The result of this double pruning, he claims, is that he loses eight days of maturity as a result of later flowering but gains in acidity."When we pick at the same time as others, we have less sugar ripeness and more acidity, and in 2003 this helped us avoid surmaturite and make more primary wines."The Roty 2003s are generally in the 13.3% alcohol range, and crop levels were down 30% to 40% from the norm.Roty acidified some of his cuvees in the fermenter, but otherwise did the same vinifications as usual. "Our wines are not made to respond to the tastes of the market; they're made for the long term," he noted. In November, the 2003s were aging in all new and once-used barrels.

Philippe Roty is not as tight-lipped as his father Joseph when it comes to sharing winemaking details with visiting journalists, but neither is he a fount of information. Happily, however, as Philippe has increasingly taken over the work in the cellar, overall philosophy and results here have not changed much. All our work is aimed at getting consistency of fruit and ripeness across vintages,' Philippe told me, adding that he did a more severe green harvest than usual in 2002, and ultimately ended up producing a crop level similar to that of 2001.Sugars were slightly higher in 2002, and acids were similar to those of 2001. But the 2001s are very firmly structured,' he said. They're not really closed yet, but the grand crus still need ten years of aging.'Roty's favorite vintages of the last two decades?1985, 1990, 1993, 1995.