2001 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

Vincent Girardin, who plans to vinify his 2002s in the large new facility he has constructed outside Meursault, describes the young 2001 whites as "less acid than the 2000s, more flatteur and less minerally. A bit of noble rot gives the 2001s personality," he adds. In 2001 the reds are a bit fresher than the whites but in 2000 it the other way around. There not a big difference between the white wine villages in 2001," he told me, adding that in 2000 the wines from Puligny-Montrachet were particularly minerally. Grape sugars were typically high in 2001, and Girardin generally limited chaptalization to one degree or less. I tasted through Girardin impressive lineup of 2001 whites with his new enologist, Eric Germain, who previously had worked with Nuits-Saint-Georges-based enologist Kiriakos Kinikopulos. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; numerous Girardin wines, reportedly identical to the Vineyard Brands bottlings in the case of the whites, are also imported under the Baron de la Charriere label by Eric Solomon/European Cellars, New York, NY)