2001 Batard-Montrachet

Vintage 2002 favored the late-picked fruit, said Jean-Marie Guffens, who, not surprisingly, had a particularly strong vintage in the more northerly Chablis appellation (these wines were reviewed in Issue 109). Guffens told me it was necessary to wait in the Maconnais (the fruit at his Domaine Guffens-Heynen in particular is left hanging as long as possible), where the harvest typically starts a week or so earlier than on the Cote de Beaune. The later pickings were richer in sugar and benefitted from longer fermentations, said Guffens, who added that no chaptalization was needed for his Verget wines from the Cote de Beaune. Guffens is very fond of the 2002s, which he described as large-breasted wines (not his exact words but close enough) in the style of the 1992s, "the year everyone would always like to make." He noted that opening prices for the Verget 2002s were lower than those asked for the '95s seven years ago. As I did with the 2001s last year, I have included notes on a number of the 2002 Verget wines from the Maconnais, as these bottles offer excellent value; the best of them compare favorably in quality to examples from the Cote de Beaune. As I ran through several 2001s from bottle at the end of the tasting, Guffens rather cryptically described this vintage as "like Strauss's music: everyone knows it but no one remembers it." (Fruit of the Vine, New York, NY; also a Peter Vezan Selection; importers include The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; and North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA)

Jean-Marie Guffens noted that his '01s finished slightly sweeter than his '00s as he vinified with a bit of botrytis. Always good for a sound bite on a vintage, even at the risk of overstatement, Guffens generalized thusly about 2001: the ripe grapes were rotten, and the grapes that were not rotten were not ripe." As in recent years, I have included notes on several of Guffens Verget bottlings from the Maconnais, even though I did not visit producers in this region. The best of these wines offer superb value in chardonnay. (Please note that the Verget Chablis bottlings were covered in my extensive article on 2001 and 2000 Chablis in Issue 103.) (Fruit of the Vine, New York, NY; also a Peter Vezan Selection; importers include The Stacole Company, Boca Raton, FL; and North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA)