1999 Corton Clos Rognet Grand Cru

Jean-Nicolas Meo, who typically racks his new wines prior to the following harvest, had not yet racked his 2000s in November. "It a more fragile vintage, and the wines are not very reduced," he told me, "so why upset them?" The fruit in 2000 was as ripe as that of '99, and Meo sorted strictly to eliminate underripe and rotten grapes. In fact, Meo said he did less chaptalization in 2000 than in any previous vintage. The biggest difference between 2000 and 1999, he went on, is the lower acidity in the later year: the typical pH is 3.7 in '00, vs. 3.5 in '99. Still, unlike in '97, the malolactic fermentations went slowly, giving the 2000s good protection from oxidation in barrel. Meo offered the opinion that his 2000s might evolve like his highly successful '89s.

Jean-Nicolas Meo was one of a relative handful of growers to characterize 1999 as a great vintage. He carried out two green harvests, the first one in July, earlier than usual. "It too late to wait until August to drop crop," said Meo. "The less ripe vines wouldn't have time to catch up. But with the earlier green harvest, we were able to get good even ripening." Sugars were high (typically in the 13% range, which Meo said was unprecedented in his village parcels), and barely three or four percent of the grapes had to be eliminated, he added. The domain-wide average production was a very reasonable 40 hectoliters per hectare, but just under 35 for Richebourg and Vosne-Romanee Brulees.