2010 Meursault Charmes

Jobard's 2010 Meursault Charmes is all about plushness, texture and volume. It possesses striking purity in its fruit, but remains pretty much one dimensional, although that dimension is incredibly beautiful. Layers of yellow stone fruit with tropical overtones flesh out on the rich, large-scaled finish. Some of the intensity trails off just a touch on the finish, but not enough to materially detract from the wine's stunning balance. The 2010 was aged exclusively in foudre.

Jobard’s 2010 Meursault Charmes is all about plushness, texture and volume. It possesses striking purity in its fruit, but remains pretty much one dimensional, although that dimension is incredibly beautiful. Layers of yellow stone fruit with tropical overtones flesh out on the rich, large-scaled finish. Some of the intensity trails off just a touch on the finish, but not enough to materially detract from the wine’s stunning balance. The 2010 was aged exclusively in foudre. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. Remi Jobard describes the 2010s as having the richness of the 2009s and the elegance of the 2008s. I suppose that’s as good a description as any. Jobard began bringing in his 2010s on September 21. Yields are down a whopping 40-50%, but in exchange Jobard has a superb set of wines that are rich yet not at all heavy. It is a vintage in which the personality of each of these sites comes through in spades. As I mentioned last year, Jobard is among the small but growing number of white Burgundy producers experimenting with foudres, which seems to work especially well with his wines. The Narvaux, Genevrieres, Poruzots are partly aged in foudre, while the Charmes is done entirely in foudre. Importer: Peter Weygandt, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800

Bright yellow. High-pitched aromas of grapefruit, flowers and spices; smells less exotically ripe than the Genevrieres. Intensely flavored and precise, given cut by penetrating minerality and perfectly integrated acidity. I might have picked this blind as a Perrieres. The reverberating dusty finish is sappy and saline without being phenolic. Jobard got just 25 hectoliters per hectare from these vines in 2010, which goes a long way toward explaining the sheer concentration of this extremely promising wine.