2001 Chambolle-Musigny Fuees

Christophe Perrot-Minot describes 2002 as a very clean harvest requiring no triage and a year that was easy to vinify. It's an archetype in terms of the raw material," he said. The wines were sufficiently rich that some cuvees did not even require pigeage In general, Perrot has been cutting back on extraction during fermentation:in 2001, he reduced the punchdowns significantly, relying more on "soft" pumpovers.With 2002, the cold macerations lasted no more than seven days, shorter than in previous years.All the 2002s were on their lees in November; Perrot planned to rack them only for the bottling. These wines are now among the very best of what I would call modern-style Burgundy. Note that Perrot-Minot uses the designation Vieilles Vignes on the majority of his labels. (Martine's Wines, Novato CA

Christophe Perrot-Minot is not the only Burgundy grower who seems willing to continue to raise his prices: he hiked prices 10% for the 2000s and expected to raise them another 20% for the 2001s. But he was more explicit about his strategy than most producers: Burgundy is a luxury product, coming from some of the greatest vineyards on earth, and I made the decision to cut the crop even more in order to make the best possible wines, even if I have to raise prices." Perrot-Minot told me he doubled his green harvesting in 2001; his target yield is now 35 hectoliters per hectare, even in the village wines. (Crop levels in 2002 were all under 30 hectoliters per hectare, according to Perrot.) In theory, Perrot-Minot relies more on his raw materials today (he also benefits from a high percentage of very old vines) and less on cellar technique. He still does a long pre-fermentation cold maceration but carries out much less pigeage and less intervention in general. Tasting here is now a mini-marathon, what with the new wines made from the Pernin-Rossin domain that Perrot purchased in 2000. The 2001s had not yet been racked at the time of my early November visit.