1999 Savigny-lès-Beaune Montchenevoy

Prior to my tasting this year, Javillier gave me a brief lecture about the aging curve of his wines, using a hand-drawn graphic to demonstrate their evolution prior to and following the bottling. His point was that the newly bottled set of wines goes through a distinct dip from May through August (exactly the time of year when I am always tasting them) before beginning to recover from the mise But, with all due respect to Javillier, I liked the '99s anyway and found their aromas to be particularly clear and complex. Javillier describes the '99s as structured and classic. He views the 2000s, for which he has done less stirring of the lees, as more fruity wines, with alcohol levels a bit lower than those of '99 but with similar acidity. Later in our tasting, he described the '99s as "between good and very good," and the '00s as "between very good and exceptional, a bit like the '92s." Neither recent year was characterized by a tendency toward oxidation, although Javillier stirred the lees less to avoid "losing the fruit" in 2000. (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)

"The '99s have surprised me with their acidity and structure, especially in light of the high yields," said Javillier at the end of June. "So I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of wine that has the material to support a later bottling." Fearing dilution at the outset, Javillier says he essentially conducted two different vinifications for a number of his cuvees "one for fruit and one for gras " For the wines vinified for sheer matiere he used SO2 to extend the fermentations in order to get more glycerine; most of these components then went into new barrels. Javillier '98s have turned out well; he told me that he had little oidium and thus the lees were clean in '98, as well as decent acidity levels roughly equal to those of the '99. He did not do a strong decanting at the outset, nor did he do much lees stirring before the malolactic fermentation, but he admitted to stirring a lot afterwards. Still, he emphasized, "1999 will ultimately be more interesting wine, more representative of Burgundy." Javillier showed me representative samples of the '99s in the cellar, assembled on the spot. "It would take the basic components a good two weeks to harmonize; today you can get an idea of the structure of the wines, but their purity is somewhat compromised by their leesy character." Accordingly, my '99 notes below must be taken as provisional. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH; and The Wine Company, Minneapolis, MN; also imported by Langdon-Shiverick, Cleveland, OH)