2006 Meursault Les Perrieres

Ripe apricot, white peach, jasmine, nut oil, fresh lime and hazelnut pour from the glass of Lafon 2006 Meursault Perrieres. Offering an amazing combination of subtly creamy richness and underlying firmness with utmost elegance and wafting floral notes, the 14 barrels’ worth of this beauty from 55 year old vines represent around 60% new wood, but it’s not noticeable as such. The finishing interplay of floral, fruit, nut oil, and mineral nuances in the finish will keep you occupied for minutes at a time, and this densely layered yet lacy Meursault should merit more than a decade of attention in the bottle as well. The subtly truffle-scented, extraordinarily mineral, tartly-fruited 2005 lacks the lift, and elegance of the 2006 but is memorably-concentrated, almost severe in finish, and brimming with potential. Like his neighbor Jean-Marc Roulot, Benoit Ente in Puligny, and a few others, Dominique Lafon obtained authorization to begin picking several days ahead of the official ban de vendange. He set his crew to work over the weekend, and was finished already on the 20th of September. The Perrieres, picked first, reached 13.8% alcohol, but all of the other wines weighed in at lower levels. Lafon insisted – and his wines testified – that the Chardonnay grapes were botrytis free, and he characterized the lees as excellent in quality and practiced “less settling than I did in the past.” That restraint – along with bright acids and pronounced minerality – makes for a richness that often expresses itself other than in creaminess. As these wines evolved, Lafon became increasingly enthusiastic about them, and I found them much more expressive on the eve of bottling than they had been in late 2007. Incidentally, the sickly vines in Lafon’s Desiree vineyard that have given so much bottled pleasure over the years gave their last in the beautifully refined, bittersweet, and for the vintage unusually delicate and creamy 2005. “It tastes as though the vines knew they were going to be pulled out,” was Lafon’s valediction. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers), fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70; A Daniel Johnnes Selection imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY, tel. (516) 677 9300; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352 1100; Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA, tel. (510) 559 1040

(just assembled in tank; 13.7% natural alcohol) Superripe aromas of peach, wet stone, minerals and hazelnut. Pure silk on entry, then explosive yet utterly fine-grained in the middle palate, with a flavor of liquid stone and the slightly exotic fruit character of the year. Wonderfully classy, time-capsule Meursault, finishing with outstanding palate-staining persistence. This was the first vineyard Lafon picked in '06. Wow!

Very fine, mineral and concentrated. Strong quince flavours and not a hint of oak. Extremely concentrated, this wine gives the impression of having lots of hidden secrets yet to be revealed. Lafon thinks this is his best Perrières for some years. (JR)