Chambertin 2002

Moderately saturated medium red. Highly nuanced, soil-driven perfume of roasted plum, strawberry, mocha, coffee, underbrush, licorice and herbs, lifted by a fresh menthol note and flinty minerality. Silky and utterly seamless in the mouth, showing terrific vinosity and lift to its flavors of red fruits, minerals and spices. Perfectly integrated acidity gives this wine lovely balance and should enable it to expand further over time. The spicy, peppery, brisk back end boasts lovely rising length, terrific thrust and noteworthy finesse to its tannins. I love this style of Burgundy. Trapet told me that following a cool, rainy May, June was sunny and warm, with the flowering producing a big crop in the younger vines but substantial millerandage in the older ones. Following a hot and dry July, August was variable and showery, with humid weather persisting during the end of the month and the first ten days of September. But a drying north wind then arrived, and the Chambertin was picked on September 25 with small, thick-skinned berries and very healthy grape sugars. (13.4% alcohol; 3.62 pH, 3.6 g/l acidity)