Boasting a mouth-watering nose of creamed almonds, the 2002 Vire-Clesse is a silky-textured, light to medium-bodied wine. Lush, soft, and lively, it reveals almond flavors throughout its lengthy character. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. French wine lovers are well aware that 2002 was a particularly difficult vintage in the south of France due to incessant rains, culminating in massive deluges at harvest time, yet to the north, in the Cote d’Or, there were almost drought-like conditions for most of the growing season, with the exception of a rainy period in late August/early September. What appears to be little-known, however, is that the demarcation line between the dry north and the wet south bisected the Maconnais. As Gerard Valette noted, “To make good wines, we needed to do a severe sort at harvest because we had gotten our fair share of the rains of the south, and therefore needed to cope with some rot.”Importer: Kysela Pere et Fils, Fran Kysela, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228