2007 Morey-Saint-Denis La Riotte 1er Cru

Christophe Perrot-Minot told me he had to throw out 25% to 30% of his pink, underripe grapes in 2008 in order to vinify fruit with good phenolic maturity. There wasn't too much rot, although there was more of a rot risk in his older vines, whose fruit achieved higher ripeness levels. Grape sugars were typically between 12.3% and 12.8% and most of the wines were chaptalized no more than half a degree. "It was impossible to do pigeages in 2008 because we didn't have the raw materials to support it," he told me. "It would have dried the wines." Perrot-Minot's 2008s look to be some of the most impressive wines of this tricky vintage, no doubt due in large part to the seriousness of the selection. The malos were finished by July but no wines had yet been racked in early November. His 2007 have turned out to be charming and attractive wines, more elegant and refined in style than his more solid, tannic 2006s.

"A stricter selection was required during the 2008 harvest than in 2007," said Christophe Perrot-Minot, giving me an early preview of the newest vintage. "In 2008 we had lots of rot and unripe berries, while in 2007 we had less problem with underripe fruit." Potential alcohol levels in '07 were in the healthy 12.5% to 12.8% range for the grand crus, and almost no chaptalization was needed. Perrot-Minot pointed out that the wines gained in alcohol at the end of the fermentations in 2007, whereas in 2008, perhaps due to the combination of tougher grape skins and less ripe juice, there was actually a loss of alcohol. The 2007s were scheduled to be racked for the first time shortly after my visit and Perrot-Minot planned to begin bottling in December. New oak percentages here continue to come down: they were 40% for the premier crus and 30% for the village wines in '07, and varied for the grand crus. Incidentally, Perrot-Minot told me he experimented with whole-cluster fermentation in 2008 with portions of his Morey-Saint-Denis Rue de Vergy and Mazoyeres-Chambertin fruit but got a Poire William note that he doesn't care for and is very unlikely to include this juice in their respective blends.