1998 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

Following a cool maceration lasting up to a week at the start of the harvest but more like three or four days for late-arriving fruit, the '98s spent anywhere from 28 to 37 days on their skins, with fermentation temperatures reaching as high as 40oC. Crop levels were small, and the wines have good color, said winemaker Jacques Lardiere. But following late malos that mostly ended in September, added Lardiere, "the wines are just beginning to mature, because no polymerization of tannins takes place until after the malos." Or, as director Pierre-Henri Gagey put it in November, "the wines are now going through a densification." "It's just a matter of time," said Lardiere. "Some of the '98s will be quite good, even if the high points are not as high as those of the last three vintages."x000D x000D x000D x000D In 1997, Jadot harvested its domain holdings late, allowing the grapes to lose some of their excess water following the early September rains. These '97s offer almost magical freshness of fruit for wines so rich and ripe; few of the top bottlings from Jadot's own vineyards show the roasted quality that characterizes so many wines from this vintage. Jacques Lardiere stepped up to the plate in '97 and whacked the ball about 500 feet.