2008 Domaine des Comtés Lafon Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru

Bright medium yellow; a tad darker in color than the preceding wines. Aromas of yellow peach, white flowers and marzipan suggest a full yet elegant wine. Fine-grained and delicious, with harmonious acidity giving shape and cut to the flavors of stone and citrus fruit, pineapple and crushed stone. Shows a captivating raciness and cut that belie the wine's elevated alcohol. Finishes with a sneaky whiplash of citrus fruits and stone, plus a strong lemon zest element suggesting that there's still a bit of acidity to be absorbed. Lafon noted that he found the nose of this wine younger than a bottle he opened four years ago, which was also more disjointed. "Now the wine's elements are coming together," he said, adding that "the ripeness in '08 came through concentration [i.e., from sunny, windy late-season weather resulting in loss of juice] rather than particularly warm temperatures." He harvested on the late side and early on he considered the small crop almost too concentrated. (14% alcohol; 27 hectoliters per hectare; 3.37 pH, 4.3 g/l acidity)

(bottled the week before my visit) Good pale yellow. Tight nose dominated by crushed stone. Then stony and dense but succulent in the mouth; bigger and richer than the Charmes but less harmonious today. Boasts terrific inner-mouth aromatic lift and a very long finish, but this youthfully disjointed wine, weighing in at a solid 14%, will need patience. The Charmes will give earlier pleasure.

Very firm, dutiful and upright. Extremely intense and introvert. It is all on the finish – still very tight on the nose. This should make great old bones but should not be opened for quite a while. Certainly a very worthy example of the vineyard. (JR)