1998 Vosne-Romanée Village

Jean-Nicolas Meo describes 1998 as a balanced vintage; his biggest worry in November was that some of the wines were in a very reduced state and stubbornly backward and inexpressive-possibly due in part to the sulfur treatments that were used to fight powdery mildew. Grape sugars were high, but the fruit required careful sorting due to the rain. Acid levels aren't much above those of '97, but because there was little malic acidity, the acid component remained stable. "The '98s," Meo notes, "taste firmer now than we thought they would at harvest time. Actually, our first impression of the vintage was one of fleshiness, not tannins, but now the wines are in a phase. We may have tried to extract too much." The '98s will be racked again and some wines may be fined for the bottling. The important question with the '98s, says Meo, is "Will we succeed in opening the wines?" He adds that the '98s do not have the same tannic structure as '95 or '88, but they are denser wines than the '97s.