2001 Puligny-Montrachet Combettes

Round and fat wines in the style of 2000," was how Jacques Carillon described this estate's 2001s. Compared to 2001, Carillon added, acid levels were higher in 2002 and yields were lower (38 to 43 hectoliters per hectare in the premier crus and 38 for the Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet). Carillon, who noted that a few of the 2002s still had a bit of malic acidity and thus were a bit leesy and unclean at the time of my visit, felt the wines were in a rather fruity stage. He predicted that they would shut down after the bottling and need four or five years to reach the peak of their drinkability, and a bit more for the estate's grand cru.

The 2001 and 2000 harvests brought fruit with similar sugars and acids, Francois Carillon told me at the beginning of June. But the crop was a good 10% smaller in 2001 due to some cold weather during the flowering, and because July was warmer and drier than the previous year," he explained. Also, the vines were tired after two large crops. But the harvest itself took place under considerably cooler conditions in 2001 than in 2000." Carillon, who likes strongly soil-inflected, stony vintages best, prefers 1999 to both 2000 and 2001, describing the earlier set of wines as "less round and fat, but very minerally, more subtle and complex." The 2000s are also minerally, he adds, but in a fatter style. I got the distinct impression that Carillon harvested on the early side in 2001, getting very sound acidity to go with moderate grape sugars.