2012 Meursault Clousots

Javillier told me he was one of the first growers to harvest in Meursault in 2013 (he began on September 24 or 25) as he prefers to make very pure wines and was alarmed to see rot developing.The grapes were high in acidity, and the post-malo lots still have a healthy 4.3 or 4.4 grams per liter, he added.Javillier recently purchased a pneumatic press and used it for about 50% of the 2011 harvest, using his old Vaselin press, which results in more lees, for the other half.But with the "more delicate" 2013 fruit, he went entirely with the gentler pneumatic press.Javillier showed me representative samples of his 2013s that had more or less finished their malolactic fermentations.Incidentally, he described 2012 as "a miracle considering the catastrophic year.We had very good quality owing to having clean fruit and very small quantities."He went on to compare 2013 and 2012 to 2008 and 2009."We had a lot of malic acidity in '13 and '08 and more tartaric acidity in '09 and '12, which gives more fullness to the wines." (A Peter Vezan selection, imported by The Wine Company, www.thewinecompany.net; also imported by Martin-Scott Wines, www.martinscottwines.com)

The 2012s were higher in alcohol and acidity than he would have thought at harvest time, so Patrick Javillier did very little batonnage."The wines already had a lot of material and I didn't want to risk having lees in suspension," he told me.Javillier prepared representative samples of 2012 a few days in advance of my visit "to let the various components meld," but for comparison purposes we also tasted most of the same cuvees directly from a single barrel.Javillier's 2011s, from a harvest he began on August 23, his earliest start ever, have turned out well."The surprise is that they really taste like wines from fruit that was picked a month later."Javillier also told me me that he picked his 2010s too late, with too much potential alcohol and evidence of surmaturite."Two thousand ten is not my classic style; they're almost Alsace-like," said Javillier, who normally vinifies for aromatic complexity and precision. (A Peter Vezan selection, www.vezanwine.wordpress.com; imported by The Wine Company, www.thewinecompany.net; also imported by Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., www.martinscottwines.com)