Meursault
There are more top producers here than in any other commune of the Côte d’Or, and its wines are typically rich and savoury with nutty, honeyed hints and buttery, vanilla spice from the oak. Even though considerably larger than its southerly neighbours Chassagne and Puligny, Meursault contains no Grands Crus. However its three best Premiers Crus produce some of the region’s greatest whites.
There are more top producers in Meursault than in any other commune of the Côte d’Or. Certainly it is the most famous and popular of the great white appellations. Its wines are typically rich and savoury with nutty, honeyed hints and buttery, vanilla spice from the oak.
Even though it is considerably larger than its southerly neighbours Chassagne and Puligny, Meursault contains no Grands Crus. Its three best Premiers Crus, however – Les Perrières, Les Genevrières and Les Charmes – produce some of the region’s greatest whites: they are full, round and powerful, and age very well. Les Perrières in particular can produce wines of Grand Cru quality, a fact that is often reflected in its price. Meursault has also been one of the driving forces of biodynamic viticulture in the region, as pioneered by Lafon and Leflaive.Many of the vineyards below Premier Cru, known as ‘village’ wines, are also well worth looking at. The growers vinify their different vineyard holdings separately, which rarely happens in Puligny or Chassagne. Such wines can be labelled with the ‘lieu-dit’ vineyard alongside (although in smaller type to) the Meursault name.
Premier Cru Meursault should be enjoyed from five to 15 years of age, although top examples can last even longer. Village wines, meanwhile, are normally at their best from three to 10 years.
Very occasionally, red Meursault is produced with some fine, firm results. The best red Pinot Noir terroir, Les Santenots, is afforded the courtesy title of Volnay Santenots, even though it is actually in Meursault.
- 305 hectares of village Meursault. The best vineyards include Clos de la Barre, Tesson, Chevalières, Rougeot, Narvaux
- 132 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards (17 in all). The finest vineyards include Les Perrières, Les Genevrières and Les Charmes
- Recommended producers: Comte Lafon, Arnaud Ente, Coche Dury, Guy Roulot, Jean-Philippe Fichet, Patrick Javillier, François Jobard, Michel Bouzereau
- Recommended restaurant: Le Chevreuil
Prices:
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 105cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Sébastien began picking his whites on 31st August, then paused before attacking the reds. He made no change to his usual vinification practice of long maceration without forceful extraction, having de-stemmed the grapes. Sébastien comments positively on the well ripened tannins and notes that the wines have been tasting well throughout their time in barrel.
Bottle
£38.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle
£39.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 107cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Picking began on 28th August and the whites were brought in across just three days. “It was such a beautiful quality of fruit,” says Jean-Baptiste, “that I couldn't stop eating the grapes.” Good sugar levels have brought alcohols ranging from 12.6 to 13.2 percent and the wines have been elegant right from the start.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 5cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The hail affected mostly his Bourgogne Blanc and En La Barre vineyards, the Premiers Crus being largely spared. These are superb wines in 2013, not least because Antoine Jobard picked between 26th September and 3rd October, before the heavy rains. Few producers in Meursault can match this range for quality, concentration and precision.
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 30cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The 2013 vintage was another very difficult vintage to manage, with a heavily reduced crop after the hail, but unlike in 2012 Dominique has at least been able to make all his appellations. The wines were at a backward stage when tasted in October but with really exciting potential.
The vines for this cuvée are between 25 and 55 years old, mature enough to produce high-quality wine. Pale in colour, it has the faintest green tint. There is lots of limestone in the soil, which gives the minerality and tension. A little greengage on the palate, this delivers a superb, fresh, hillside Meursault.
Bottle
£59.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 21cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Jean-Philippe Fichet is very excited with his 2013s, which he picked before the weekend of bad weather. He has also refined his techniques in the cellar, pressing the grapes for longer and settling out the juice less than before; both methods aimed at enhancing the vineyard character of each plot and making less ‘technical’ wines. A lovely range.
Bottle
£62.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 36cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Picking began on 28th August and the whites were brought in across just three days. “It was such a beautiful quality of fruit,” says Jean-Baptiste, “that I couldn't stop eating the grapes.” Good sugar levels have brought alcohols ranging from 12.6 to 13.2 percent and the wines have been elegant right from the start.
Bottle
£69.00
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Picking began on 28th August and the whites were brought in across just three days. “It was such a beautiful quality of fruit,” says Jean-Baptiste, “that I couldn't stop eating the grapes.” Good sugar levels have brought alcohols ranging from 12.6 to 13.2 percent and the wines have been elegant right from the start.
Bottle
£69.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 11cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The 2013 vintage was another very difficult vintage to manage, with a heavily reduced crop after the hail, but unlike in 2012 Dominique has at least been able to make all his appellations. The wines were at a backward stage when tasted in October but with really exciting potential.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
After three miserable harvests (in size) and with the 2016 catastrophe to come, Patrick Javillier is very happy with 2015 which at last constituted a “normal” crop. He began picking on 28th August, deliberately very early, as the degrees were already there (around 13) but still with an excellent acid balance. His wines are suave, juicy and yet appealingly fresh in 2015.
Bottle
£79.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 25cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The hail affected mostly his Bourgogne Blanc and En La Barre vineyards, the Premiers Crus being largely spared. These are superb wines in 2013, not least because Antoine Jobard picked between 26th September and 3rd October, before the heavy rains. Few producers in Meursault can match this range for quality, concentration and precision.
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 18cs
Bottle
£89.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 15cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
Two changes to note in the Faiveley style this year: the diminution of new wood, a trend they plan to develop further, and the use of 25 percent whole bunches in the vinification for 2015, whereas previously it was very rare to use any. They maintained their practice of punching down rather than pumping over, and the combination of these points leads to wines which are more rugged and structured than their recent vintages. The harvest was completed between 2nd and 11th September.
Bottle
£95.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Neal Martin- The Wine Advocate #216, Dec 2014
Case price (Magnum 6 x 150cl)
Magnum 6 x 150cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Sébastien picked his white wines at the end of September then waited a week for the reds to finish ripening. In both cases the grapes remained in healthy condition. Clearly his 2013s are his best yet in white and very good indeed in red. Take this opportunity to discover a really promising young grower who is still ‘under the radar’.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Jean-Baptiste reports hardly any hail damage in 2013 but the crop was nonetheless limited by cold damp weather at the flowering. He began picking on 26th September, with all the whites picked before the wet weekend. Malolactic fermentation took a little longer than usual but no real problems in the cellar. The wines will be bottled in December, or January for the Premiers Crus.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Jean-Baptiste reports hardly any hail damage in 2013 but the crop was nonetheless limited by cold damp weather at the flowering. He began picking on 26th September, with all the whites picked before the wet weekend. Malolactic fermentation took a little longer than usual but no real problems in the cellar. The wines will be bottled in December, or January for the Premiers Crus.
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Allen Meadows - burghound.com - February 2011
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
This micro-domaine continues to make some of the most sublime white wines in all of Burgundy but there is so little made that Arnaud and Marie-Odile are somewhat under the radar. Their meticulous work in the vineyards mean that yields are always low, though they hope to do better than their 19 hl/ha in 2012 and 26 hl/ha in 2013. The 2012s enjoyed long slow fermentations, so the wines were quite backward when tasted in November. The reds are also very fine this year.
Magnum 1 x 150cl 1cs
Patrick Javillier is now one of Meursault's best growers. An electrical engineer by training, he later studied oenology in Dijon before taking over his father's small Meursault estate. It would be difficult to find another winemaker with quite such a perfectionist attitude as Javillier, a man who approaches winemaking with the precision of a research scientist, yet is always ready to question his own success. The results are startling.
Patrick Javillier has crafted a superbly balanced Meursault for our own-label range in 2015, using grapes from the top, middle and bottom of the hillside. This delicious white Burgundy displays a classy, fresh-fruit nose, with beautifully rounded fruit on the palate, with ripe yet fresh yellow-plum notes. This is a very classical Meursault, with a pure long finish.