2002 Puligny-Montrachet Combettes

Jacques Carillon describes his family's 2003s as "in the style of New World chardonnay: low in acidity and less minerally than normal. "The 2002 vintage, he went on, "is more the style of wine we like: fat, minerally, and with good acidity; true to Burgundy The estate produced barely 25% of a normal crop in 2003 due to frost, three incidents of hail, and extreme heat that resulted in a harvest significantly earlier than the normal 100 days after the flowering (the Carillons picked from August 26 through 30). The estate acidified for the first time since 1994, Carillon told me, and the malos were all over by December, at which point the Carillons stopped stirring the lees. The wines, Carillon noted, will be bottled on the early side (between September and December of this year) and will be best suited for drinking after two or three years. (Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Shekomeko NY Vineyard Brands, Birmingham AL

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.