2002 Meursault Tête de Murgers

Javillier was slowly healing from a busted knee following a wipeout on ice on the sidewalk outside his cellar this winter. Like Jean-Marie Guffens, his brother in batonnage he was one of a minority of winemakers who felt that the use of the lees in 2003 was essential to making rich, balanced, complex wines. Those who did too much debourbage could easily get meager wines," he pointed out, describing those of his colleagues who let their musts settle for an extended period so that they could leave most of the lees behind. Javillier did almost no debourbage then did more lees stirring in 2003 than in any past vintage, stirring the wines every week. The lees were clean and of incredible quality," he told me. They're still giving richness to the wines. When you don't have much acidity, you need as much material as possible to replace the acids. And of course the lees also give the wines more complexity. "Javillier started picking fruit in Meursault Charmes, Puligny-Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne on August 28, then attacked the rest of his vines on August 30. We only got real phenolic maturity by waiting," he explained. And we also benefited by picking under somewhat cooler conditions. " Javillier is convinced that the best 2003s will prove to be outstanding. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley CA Vintner Select, Cincinnati OH; and Arborway Imports, Lexington, MA; also imported by Langdon-Shiverick, Cleveland, OH and Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd. , Lake Success, NY)

Javillier describes 2002 as "an exceptional year, with more material and power than 2000 but almost the same nobility." Following his experience with the 2001s, Javillier now plans to bottle all of his wines with the exception of the Meursault Clos du Cromin after a full 18 months of elevage(previously certain cuvees or parts of cuvees were bottled after 12 months). Whereas many vignerons who thought they had fragile wines bottled their 2001s early, Javillier believed from the start that this was a dangerous approach. He was convinced that because the wines were so clearly marked by the surmaturite of the vintage, they needed more time on their lees "to bring up the terroir character." In fact, Javillier's bottled wines from the 2001 vintage show very good clarity of aroma, freshness and structure.Javillier vinifies and ages most of his wines in two or more components, making use of different fermentations, as well as different use of the lees, then combining the pieces late. This year I tasted two of his 2002s in their component parts, and the differences among the various building blocks of each wine were striking. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH; and Arborway Imports, Lexington, MA; also imported by Langdon-Shiverick, Cleveland, OH and Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., Lake Success, NY)