2001 Meursault Le Poruzots

Remi Jobard told me that he waited fully 8 days after the ban de vendange to commence harvesting, which was a stroke of luck he says because during that time, the north wind began to blow and it concentrated everything. We had lower yields as a result but the trade off for better density, excellent balance and perfect acidity made the risk worthwhile." Specifically, he said that yields were in the 45 to 50 hl/ha range and sugars came in between 13.25 to as high as 14% for the Charmes. Jobard went on to observe that he prefers 2001 to 2000, calling 2000 tres flatteur and 2001 a millesime de garde or a vintage that will require aging. 2001 is an excellent vintage though it's a bit more supple than '99 even though the yields in 2001 were lower." The wines were bottled in February without fining or filtration; I tasted them immediately afterward and they did not appear to have suffered at all. Jobard's wines since the 1999 vintage have gone from strength to strength and it is apparent that he has come into his own. Weygandt-Metzler Imports, Unionville, PA).

Jobard describes his young 2002s as suppler than his 2001s. The 2002s have the suppleness of the 2000s on the attack, then a bit more vivacity in the mouth." Jobard is one of a few Meursault growers I visited this spring who views the 2001s as true vins de garde thanks to their strong material and sound acidity. Two thousand one is denser and more concentrated than 2000 due to the later picking," explains Jobard, who began harvesting a full eight days after the ban de vendange and says he benefitted from the concentrating effect of the north wind: The grapes were darker in 2001; they were turning brown without rotting yet retained good acidity." Jobard purchased a second press in time for the 2002 vintage, which allowed for slower, longer pressing. He noted that slower pressing was helpful due to the tougher skins of 2002. Jobard ages his wines in oak for a year, then keeps them in cuve for another six months prior to bottling. He fines but does not filter. Neither the 2002s nor the 2001s were chaptalized.

Like a number of his neighbors in the village, Remi Jobard feels that the 2001 harvest in Meursault produced slightly denser wines than the previous year, "but in the same register of aromas. There were fewer and smaller grapes, and thus more concentration." Jobard noted that two-thirds of his vines are trained according to cordon royat which is very sensitive to cold weather during the flowering. Yields in 2001 were in the 40 to 45 hectoliters-per-hectare range, compared to 50 in 2000. Jobard told me he waited a long time to pick, watching most of his neighbors out in their vines. The grapes deepened in color and gained concentration; there was a slight browning of the skins and a moderate loss of acidity but no aromas of surmaturite or rot. So far, 2001 is the vintage of the century," he deadpanned. Vintage two thousand, Jobard adds, produced supple, aromatic, congenial wines that will drink well young. Until 1999, Jobard bottled his wines prior to the next harvest, but he is now waiting longer (the 2000s were bottled in January and February of this year after having spent their last four or five months in foudres so as not to have to filter. This way we get rounder wines whose fruit and mineral components marry better with the wood. The later bottling also brings more aromatic purity. The wines keep their freshness and their citric character longer and develop more slowly."