1997 Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er Cru

Pascal Lachaux has made a set of rather easygoing '98s that for the most part avoid the hard tannins shown by so many wines from Vosne-Romanee in this vintage. Yields averaged just under 40 hectoliters per hectare, but were lower in Suchots and Echezeaux due to spring frost. Grape sugars were healthy (most wines were chaptalized a half-degree or so), but below the very high levels of '97. The '98s here will be firmer wines than the '97s, but the top '97s will offer at least as much early pleasure. (Represented by Russell Herman, Berkeley Heights, NJ; importers include V.O.S. Selections, Inc., New York, NJ; also a Peter Vezan Selection, imported by Esquin Imports, San Anselmo, CA; The Stacole Co., Boca Raton, FL; and Import!, Madison, WI)

Pascal Lachaux has made a set of fruity, rather soft wines in '97, from very ripe fruit. The grand crus, he told me, came in with grape sugars in the 13% range, while the premier crus were 12.5% or more--the highest sugars here since 1985. The wines from Nuits Saint Georges were more likely to have required acid adjustment than those from Vosne Romanee, Lachaux reports. Lachaux racked the '97s in March, following a quicker than normal fermentation and an early end to the malos; he planned to rack the wines again prior to the bottling, which was to take place in January and February. Interestingly, the higher-acid '96s were also bottled in January (1998), despite the fact that the malolactic fermentations that year were much slower to finish. (Represented by Russell Herman, Berkeley Heights, NJ; importers include V.O.S. Selections, Inc., New York, NJ; also a Peter Vezan Selection, imported by Esquin Imports, San Anselmo, CA; The Stacole Co., Boca Raton, FL; and Import!, Madison, WI)