1996 Domaine des Comtés Lafon Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru
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Tasting notes
Full yellow with a gold tinge. Rather exotic, developed aromas of marzipan and yeasty bread. With its strong impression of acidity and emerging minerality, this is a distinctly vertical wine, a bit yeasty and lacking in flesh, but a strong crushed-stone element arrives on the back end, extending the finish and giving it sappy grip. This distinctly idiosyncratic Meursault is at once salty, minerally and exotic, but fruit is not its strong suit. (38 h/h; "at least 4 grams total acidity," according to Lafon, who noted that the juice started at a high 6.4 g/l, as the end of the season was bright and chilly, with a constant north wind)
Critic scores
Pierre Rovani
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The breath-taking Meursault Perrieres has an extraordinarily defined and elegant nose of stones, earth and minerals. As Lafon tasted it he smiled and said, "yes, it is classic, like the Charmes." Classic to me means representative of the norm, and this wine is more than that, it is an exquisite example of the heights this vineyard can attain. Harmonious, lively, gorgeously delineated, silky-textured, rich, medium-to-full-bodied, and profoundly deep, this wine's stone and mineral flavors seems to linger on the palate indefinitely. Wow! This magnificent wine should be consumed between 2004 and 2012. The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. Dominique Lafon performed more batonnage than usual on his 1996s, "to give them more richness," he said. However, unlike some other vignerons, Lafon abandons the practice when the malos start because he wants his wines to be protected by the carbon dioxide gas that is a by product of a wine's malo-lactic fermentation. Lafon's yields were between 35 and 45 hectoliters/hectare, demonstrating his dedication to quality in this potentially high-yielding vintage. Importer: Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; tel (617) 731-6644.
The breath-taking Meursault Perrieres has an extraordinarily defined and elegant nose of stones, earth and minerals. As Lafon tasted it he smiled and said, "yes, it is classic, like the Charmes." Classic to me means representative of the norm, and this wine is more than that, it is an exquisite example of the heights this vineyard can attain. Harmonious, lively, gorgeously delineated, silky-textured, rich, medium-to-full-bodied, and profoundly deep, this wine's stone and mineral flavors seems to linger on the palate indefinitely. Wow! This magnificent wine should be consumed between 2004 and 2012. Feb 1998, www.robertparker.com
Lively, showy aromas of pineapple, lemon and minerals; offers the sweetness of cake icing. Extremely rich and dense yet light on its feet. Flavors are brilliantly delineated. The explosive finish builds and builds, yet the ultimate impression this wine conveys is one of refinement. Offers great potential.