2003 Vosne-Romanée Village

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)