2003 Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru

Thierry Matrot characterizes his 2004s as a cross between 1999 and 2002: "Less solid and powerful than '99, less nerveux but rounder and perhaps fatter than 2002." He made the decision not to treat the vines against oidium, as he did not think it would be a bad idea to lose 15% to 20% of the crop in this copious year. The premier crus came in with potential alcohol in the 13.5% to 13.8% range and were not chaptalized. Matrot believes the 2004s wines will be easy to taste early on. As one of the family's connected cellars is colder than the other, the malos here were only recently finished, or not quite done, and the wines kept here (Meursault, Chevaliers, Combettes and Perrieres) were a bit more difficult to taste this spring. Matrot told me he bottled his 2003s with less gas than the enologists advised, as he believes that carbonic gas has more of a negative effect when it combines with high alcohol ("it burns the wines") than when it combines with acidity. He stirred the lees just twice in 2003, "so I could say that I did batonnage," and he feels that the site character is beginning to emerge in a number of these wines. All of the 2003s were bottled by July of 2004. Incidentally, the Matrot wines are bottled under two DBAs: Pierre Matrot, and Thierry & Pascale Matrot.

Thierry Matrot, who harvested during the last week of August, describes 2003 as "an exotic vintage, vinified in the normal way, except for the addition of a bit of acid to correct what would have been lost during the fermentation. "The young vines lost their leaves, Matrot added, which exposed the grapes to burning sun. As a result, there were a lot of pink grapes in 2003, "like gewurztraminer. "The wines finished with residual sugars typically in the low to moderate 1. 2 to 1. 5 grams-per-liter range, but show a more glyceral texture than most recent years; alcohol levels range from 14. 2% for the village wines to 14. 5% for the premier crus. Matrot limited his batonnage to a single stirring, which he told me he did "for fun. " Matrot describes his 2002s as relatively easy wines with very good balance, "complete examples of Burgundy from Meursault. They should even dominate the 1990s and 1985s. "(Vineyard Brands, Birmingham AL Chateau & Estate Wines, New York NY