2001 Puligny-Montrachet Champs-Canet

It's harder to find exceptional 2001s than 2000s; the wines can be harmonious but they're smaller-scaled, and for earlier drinking than the 2000s," said Jean-Pierre Latour in early June. The 2001s required a lot of work to retain the fruit and the freshness," he added. We needed to keep the CO2 to maintain the freshness of the wines. They have good stuffing but less complexity and acidity than the 2000s, which are purer and more aromatically expressive. At some domains, a lot of the 2001s are developing too quickly." Latour's young 2002s were quite promising at the end of May, showing quintessential Meursault aromatics, excellent precision of flavor thanks to sound acids, and considerable backbone for aging. The malos had mostly ended shortly before my visit, and Latour had stopped stirring the lees about a month earlier, deeming the wines sufficiently rich. (A Patrick Lesec selection; importers include Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; Monsieur Touton, New York, NY; The Stacole Co., Boca Raton, FL; Fine Vines, Chicago, IL; Wine Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA)