2007 Meursault Les Grands Charrons

Vincent Dancer started picking in 2008 on September 22, with 13% natural alcohol. "The ripeness was late in 2008, but came quickly at the end," he told me, adding that he was the first to harvest in Chevalier-Montrachet, yet his fruit came in with 14.2% potential alcohol. Dancer describes the wines as less elegant than the 2007s, but I was struck by the strength of material, and expressive soil tones, in the wines from both of these vintages at this address. The alcohols in 2007 were lower, said Dancer, "like the 2000s," but he chaptalized only his Tete du Clos. "I used to try to match the numbers on the labels-13% for the village wines and 13.5% for the crus-but now I usually just leave the wines alone." The 2008 malos had finished a month prior to my visit. Incidentally, Dancer told me that 1999 and 2000 were his problem vintages with premature oxidation, and that since that era he has taken a number of steps to prevent his wines from dying an early death in bottle, including longer elevage, the use of more small doses of SO2 (there were previously just three main additions done), no more filtration for the bottling and different corks. And, since 2004, he has pressed harder and faster. "Previously we started with too-fine lees," he told me. Now Dancer begins with a rather substantial 20 liters of lees per barrel but does not do batonnage.

Jean-Marc Boillot was a very early harvester in 2007, starting with pinot noir on August 20 and bringing in his chardonnay between August 28 and September 2. "If we had waited we would have gotten slightly higher sugars and slightly lower acidity," he explained, "but rather overripe grapes, with less pure and more advanced chardonnay aromas." Potential alcohol levels were typically a moderate 12% to 12.2%, and the wines will be bottled between 12.8% and 13%. "It's not a year for a long elevage," noted Boillot, who did a lot of lees stirring to enrich the wines. "The wines began with less power than the '04s," he went on. "They started out meager but they've been taking on volume in barrel." All the wines had finished their malos and had been sulfited when I tasted them at the end of May. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; also a Becky Wasserman selection; numerous importers) Also recommended: Chassagne-Montrachet (85).

Vincent Dancer was candid about his preference for 2007 over 2006. He told me he had moderate yields in '07, "like those of 2005, and much lower than 2004," with his Meursault parcels producing between 30 and 33 hectoliters per hectare and the Chassagne premier crus in the low 40s. "I did a lot of work in the vines, including a very strict ebourgeonnage,and that's why I picked early," he went on. "The later pickers mostly had big crop loads." He told me that he did not have to chaptalize his wines, most of which began with 12.9% to 13.2% potential alcohol. Thanks to long fermentations, he went on, the lees were constantly "troubled" and thus did not require stirring. Nothing was racked or sulfited at the end of May and Dancer planned to give his crus a long elevage. Incidentally, Dancer told me he "really got serious in 2002 and 2003," but then changed his equipment with the 2004 vintage and since then has bottled later and stopped filtering.

Jean-Francois Mestre, the son-in-law of Bernard Michelot and long-time winemaker here, started bringing in the pinot noir during the last two days of August in 2007, and then stopped for a week before picking chardonnay from September 9 through 18, pausing again in the middle for a couple of days. "It was a very complicated harvest," he summarized. Grape sugars were a healthy 12.5% to 13.2% and none of the crus were chaptalized. Mestre describes the wines as "very typical, fresh Burgundian chardonnay." He stirred the lees a total of seven to ten times, then stopped in early April "to avoid getting a buttery character." The wines will remain on their lees until mid-September and then be racked into cuve for three months prior to bottling. Mestre, who began vinifying here in 1993, noted that prior to 2003 the wines were bottled before the following harvest. By the way, Mestre will be bottling half his 2007 crop with screwcaps. (Represented by Russell Herman, Berkeley Heights, NJ: importers include Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA; Vintage Wines, Des Plaines, IL; and Vin de Garde, Portland, OR) Also recommended: Meursault Sous La Velle (86).