2003 Corton Clos Rognet Grand Cru

Jean-Nicolas Meo describes 2004 as "a nice, well-balanced vintage saved by high grape sugars. The main drawback is lack of concentration. There wasn't enough stuffing in the grapes for the wines to achieve greatness. The vintage is more red fruit than black, like 2000. "Meo, who did up to three separate green harvests in his various parcels, was one of a few growers to tell me he did a saignee in some of his cuvees to obtain more concentrated musts. Meo considers the 2004s to be riper and softer than the 2001s. "We had a different balance in 2001," he explained. "The higher acidity in '01 helped us extract more color and get more profound wines, with deeper fruit, but at lower levels of alcohol. "My tasting began with a few of Meo's negociant offerings. (Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, CA; also represented by Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs, imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY and Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA)

Jean-Nicolas Meo started his 2003 harvest on August 28, eliminating the raisined grapes, which he said represented a very small percentage of the crop.He was one of several proprietors who told me that their wines seemed to get fresher with the malolactic fermentations, offering the explanation that there was more precipitation of potassium than of tartaric acidity.The malos here finished between January and July of 2004, and the wines were still on their lees, unracked, when I tasted them in November.Incidentally, Meo, who uses about 20% to 25% Troncais oak, told me he's not wild for the way these barrels are combining with the 2003s:he feels this oak is exaggerating the already big structure of the wines and accentuating their tendency toward heaviness. I was especially impressed by Meo's top three cuvees (Vosne-Romanee Aux Brulees, Vosne-Romanee Cros Parantoux and Richebourg), which largely avoid the roasted side of the vintage."Wines from our cooler sites should evolve gracefully," said Meo."With the others, there's certainly an unknown element.But if the evolution of the wines in barrel is an indication, they should age well.Their evolution so far has been much less brutal and quick than we feared at the beginning." I started with a look at Meo's negociant offerings, of which my favorites were an aromatically pure and minerally Nuits-Saint-Georges Perrieres and a highly concentrated, high-alcohol Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras, which boasted exotic berry liqueur and chocolate flavors without coming across as roasted.(Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, CA; also represented by Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs, imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY and Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA)