versus the average of about 6800. There are a mix of rootstocks, including Bessin's favorite of 3069 with the remainder in 41-B and 161-49; there is also a small amount of SO4 but Bessin, like many in Chablis, believes this yields inferior fruit. The grand cru and old vines fruit is hand picked while the rest is harvested by machine. Bessin elects to use enzymes to help clarify the must during the débourbage, something which he wryly concedes is mainly due to the machine picked fruit. The must is fermented in stainless steel with selected yeasts and the temperatures are allowed to fluctuate between 20 and 25° C. The malos are encouraged via heating the cellar but Bessin stresses that he does not inoculate. If the lees are particularly clean, the wines are not racked after the malos and Bessin will engage in moderate bâtonnage if he feels the wines are too lean and in need of a bit of flesh. The élevage has historically taken place only in tank for everything except the Valmur; by contrast, for the first time in 2000, it saw 15% older oak for the élevage plus 10% of the must was fermented in new oak. In 2001, he decided to use up to 15% wood for the élevage for all of the wines though he limited the exposure to only 2 months. To this end, Bessin told me that he is now considering fermenting in a mix of older oak together with a small percentage of new oak but then doing the élevage entirely in stainless; we'll have to see what this experiment brings. In June following the harvest, the wines are fined and then filtered but there is no forced tartrate precipitation. Bessin was extremely high on the 2000 vintage, calling it a classic vintage with excellent maturity of fruit that produced very pure, very fresh aromas and flavors. Conversely, he conceded that 2001 was a difficult vintage as it was both very hot and rainy, which produced very mature, perhaps overly mature fruit. He noted that the flowering was extended and late, which meant that the fruit matured at significantly different rates, necessitating multiple visits to the same vineyard plots. The fruit was average at best and I worked with less of the lees than usual for fear of transmitting off aromas to the wine. (Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, Virginia). Noticeable if subtle wood notes merge with aromas of limestone, lemon and white flowers. This is a big, powerful wine with magnificent flavor authority and seemingly endless reserves of sappy extract. Tightly wound and still very youthful but the extract buffers the intense acidity and completely coats and stains the palate. The old vine character is really evident here and if this adds some additional complexity with bottle age, my score will probably be conservative. Easily the class of the cellar today.
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