2016 Meursault

The 2016 Meursault Village wafts from the glass with notes of crisp apple, pear, almond paste and lemon oil, displaying a pure bouquet that isn't marked by the reductive signatures of yesteryear. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, intense and incisive, with excellent concentration and a tangy line of acidity that lends the wine enormous length. Right now, it's youthfully tight-knit, but there's immense promise here. This note applies to a bottle from a cuvée produced from the lieu-dit Les Chaumes that also contains some juice from La Barre. Raphaël Coche told me that he produced three other cuvées, one from Vireuils, another from Narvaux and a third assembling multiple parcels that together filled a press. As usual, the only way to know which bottling you possess is to ask the importer.

(from Narvaux, which was not affected by frost and yielded close to 48 hectoliters per hectare): Pale, bright yellow. Aromas of lemon, lime and stone. Firm on the attack, then sharply chiseled but not at all hard in the middle palate, with lovely fruit intensity and classic Meursault citricity. Tightly coiled yet somehow pliant, this village wine shows terrific citrus lift and cut. Finishes pure, fresh and long. Raphaël Coche told me that this wine, along with his Meursault Perrières and Corton-Charlemagne, are what 2016 could have been.