2002 Montrachet Grand Cru

According to winemaker Pierre Morey, the team at Domaine Leflaive started the 2002 harvest three days after the ban de vendange and then picked everything in one week flat. Morey stopped stirring the lees in December, but most of the malos did not finish until April, with the result that the wines in early June had a lot of carbonic gas. Leflaive's 2001s do not possess the purity of the estate's more classic 2000s, but they are nonetheless among the standouts of the vintage. The last 2001s had been bottled shortly before my visit, or a month or two later than usual. They were left longer on their finings so that they would fall bright. Morey, who told me last year that he found the finishes of some of the 2001s more salty than acid, believes the 2001s will age relatively rapidly. Much of the remaining acidity is lactic, which is less vivid than the tartaric acidity that characterizes the 2002s."