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Humility might not come to mind first as a fundamental factor in creating these great wines. But as the domaine's co-directeur Aubert de Villaine recently pointed out, making successful wines in Burgundy -- even in much heralded vintages such as 2002 -- requires just as much hard work, vigilance and good fortune as individual skill.

De Villaine, who began working at the domaine in 1964, made his observations earlier this month at the introduction of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti's much anticipated 2002 wines at a tasting in Chef Thomas Keller's Per Se restaurant at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.

Before tasting the 2002s, de Villaine provided an overview of the vintage and a context for the wines.

"The most difficult task is to make wine in a cold northern climate with vineyards that have not changed for centuries, with one grape variety," he says.

In his case, the varietal is the increasingly popular pinot noir, although the domaine also works with minuscule amounts of chardonnay to make white wines from the famous Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet vineyards.

"We look for excellence by putting in best practices and hard work," de Villaine says. "But every year, the climate is our partner. It can be an enemy or an ally from one moment to the next. So you never know where your moments of frustration and joy will lead."

De Villaine notes that warm temperatures in early spring 2002 led to the setting of abundant bunches, but then some of the bunches began early flowering in colder temperatures, causing partial crop failure with berries of mixed sizes. For those bunches that bloomed later, however, recovering temperatures in early June allowed perfect flowering that suggested the potential for generous and full fruit at harvest.

The summer varied among rain and sun and cold and warmth, and by August, the verdict on the vintage still was uncertain as de Villaine and his fellow growers anxiously waited, fearing September rains. "But then a window opened," de Villaine says. "There was a Burgundy miracle in September as great weather returned."

The water from the summer rains helped the vines in the fresh mornings and clear days of September to produce grapes with what de Villaine calls "incredible increases in sugar" without losing acidity. The grapes ripened to "extraordinary" excellent quality, but the vintage could have just as easily turned mediocre had the rains returned prematurely.

"We live with a sense of fragility," he says. "With grand wines, victory depends on very small margins."

The quality in the wines was not invented, de Villaine points out. "It has been there for centuries. Everything today is about speed, technology and automation, but technology and technique do not make great wines. It is in the grapes."

De Villaine says patience and long-term vision are necessary to make great wines. "We do not blindly follow tradition, but science today often confirms that what was done in the simplicity of the past was correct."

Overall, de Villaine says, 2002 is not an "opulent, forward vintage." Rather, it is a vintage of "purity of fruit, finesse, elegance and transparency. It has concentration and purity rather than power, and it is a vintage built for aging with the wines being ready to drink in 15 years."

The following 2002 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti wines are all "Cellar Selections" and available in very limited quantities both nationally and in Pennsylvania. In the commonwealth, you need to make a special liquor order.

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