2001 Meursault Perrières 1er Cru

Mounir Saouma's 2002 white wines were at every possible phase of their evolutions in barrel in late spring, making my tasting of these wines tricky. In general, I tasted from barrels that had finished their malolactic fermentations but still retained a few grams of unfermented sugar. The longer alcoholic fermentations in 2002 have given sweetness to the wines, Saouma maintained. But the wines are also fresh; in fact, they taste fresher than the amount of acidity would suggest," he said, adding that he planned to bottle the wines early to preserve their fruit. Saouma told me that he kept his 2001s on their lees longer than usual, adding bits of SO2 to forestall the malos, in the hopes of bottling wines with more capacity to age. Some people finished their wines too early and they're developing quickly as a result."

Mounir Saouma, who made just 15 barrels of white wine (and 45 of red) in 2001, is quite forthcoming on the character of recent vintages. The very uneven ripeness of the grapes in 2001 meant that it was necessary to press very slowly, even at the risk of getting more acidity. I kept the maximum possible lees and delayed the onset of the malolactic fermentations because the wines were still hard in early winter." So at the time of my late spring visit, only about 20% of Saouma barrels had finished their malos. There may be stuff ready to be bottled in other cellars, but wines that were rushed through their secondary fermentations may still have some bitterness," Saouma noted.