Meursault Lieu-Dit

This higher vineyard above the village, southeast- facing, was entirely frost-free this year. W hen we tasted, it was showing as quite fresh, but there is plenty of substance here, and the 33 percent new oak is not evident, boding well for the future. The finish is equally promising, with some excellent Meursault detail emerging.
Drink 2019-2024.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Javilliers have been involved in the wine business for generations as courtiers. When Patrick started out in 1974 this was the main source of his income, alongside which he worked three hectares of vineyards. His courtier days are now long behind him, and his domaine covers nine hectares. Recently, Patrick has been joined by his daughter Marion and her brother-in-law Pierre- Emmanuel Lamy. Patrick is not far away from 50 vintages; Marion is now making the estate’s red wines, and Pierre-Emmanuel largely does the whites – not that Patrick is taking a back seat. As always, conversation with him is peppered with observations; indeed he has been closely involved in the discussions to create a new generic Côte d’Or appellation, a move that would appear to now just need a rubber stamp. There wasn’t too much frost damage here and harvesting began on 20th September; Patrick observes that the character of the vintage is one that can take a bit more bâtonnage than usual.

From vines planted in 1958 and 1989, there was very little frost damage here. Tessons is a favourite site, on the same contour as the upper section of Genevrières and Perrières, but facing slightly more towards the east. There is a pleasant weight of fruit on the entry, before the mid-palate opens and develops with brisk acidity to give a wine of great elegance and freshness. Ethereal. Drink 2021-2025.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Bouzereau clan is widespread in the village of Meursault, with Domaine Michel Bouzereau at the forefront. Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau, Michel’s son, is now in sole charge. He moved to a purpose-built winery in 2009 which has made the winemaking a great deal easier to manage and has enabled Jean-Baptiste to refine his style towards greater purity as well as more substance. The wines are racked after 11 months, with the better village Meursaults and all the Premiers Crus being returned to barrel for additional ageing, before bottling early the following year. Jean-Baptiste explained that frost was more of a problem in the lower-lying Grands Charrons vineyard than Tessons and the Premiers Crus which sit on the slope. Overall he is around a third down on a normal year, mainly in the lesser appellations. Harvest began on 22nd September for the whites, and took place in good conditions. He feels that 2016 is a vintage which will appeal to Burgundy lovers, and one which shows each terroir with great clarity.

With a lovely, pale colour, this wine has a very soft, appealing nose – very graceful. The palate offers a sensual, cashmere-like texture, with a little touch of yellow fruit, then a classy, tingling, mineral finish.

Jean-Baptiste liked the fruit and the flesh of his 2014s from the start, but since October he feels that the structure and sense of class have become apparent. He was happily surprised to find such regular, healthy fruit despite the hail, and, apart from the size of the crop, there was no discernible difference between the hailed vineyards and the others. Overall his crop was 40 percent below a normal year, and 10 percent below 2013, so his pricing this year is eminently fair.

Medium pale colour, the nose shows the volume of fruit to come. This is more backward than Gruyaches or Chevalières. It boasts an excellent mineral thread with greengage fruit, middleweight, structure and persistence.

Jean-Philippe is serene in the knowledge of the quality of his 2014 vintage. The grapes were entirely healthy, there were no problems in vinification, the maturation process is happening as it should and the wines are set to give a great deal of pleasure all round. There is less reduction than last year, so they will be accessible reasonably early, while still having good keeping potential.

Fine, pale lemon, this has a lean and hungry nose, with fine, balanced aromatics. There is excellent length to this for Bouzereau’s basic Meursault. A friendly and enjoyable wine. Drink 2019-2022.
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.

This is a favourite vineyard in Meursault. The wine shows a pale colour with a really stylish bouquet. Discreet at the front, the palate fills out behind, with some lemon and lime notes, a very silky, suave finish and excellent length. Perfect. Drink 2020-2024.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Benjamin began picking on 2nd September and was able to bring in slightly more wine than the previous year. The entire range is really impressive, in both colours. There are two excellent new cuvées, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-St Georges Aux Boudots. Some cuvées have a little bit of whole-bunch vinification in 2015. For reasons of space the limited volumes of Grands Crus have not been included in this brochure. As with last year, all the white wines will be bottled under screwcap.

Everything fits perfectly into place here; it is a really fresh and decadent mouthful and it is little wonder that Jean-Philippe likes it as much as his Tesson.

The nose has a lovely cashmere feel to it, softer than the Chevalières this year. The fruit fills the palate, quite buttery in style, rounded and attractive, and with excellent length.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Jean-Philippe’s best vineyards were the most affected by the hail this year, whereas the Bourgogne Blanc vineyards suffered the least. The crop in the single vineyard wines is down by 50-75%, however Jean-Philippe reports very healthy grapes though and an impeccable balance between sugar levels and acidity. Jean-Philippe’s style is to retain a healthy thread of crisp minerality in his wines.

Tesson is a good candidate for Meursault’s finest specific lieu-dit. This wine shows a beautiful noble reduction, with dancing fruit behind, elegance and energy. The palate displays yellow fruit at perfect ripeness yet with a magical excitement.
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.

Nothing heavy-handed here. Fichet brings his customary finesse to this rich and refreshing Meursault. Nutty oak sublimely supports the fruit in a lingering finish.
Edwin Dublin, London Shop Assistant Manager Richer in style than Jean-Philippe’s Les Chevaliers, this has some floral notes but also a great sense of weight. There is a touch of yellow fruit, and even a little tannin alongside the acidity. Quite frankly, this is a Premier Cru quality wine.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director The model here in Fichet’s ultra-meticulous cellars, near the Hôpital de Meursault, is for the wines to spend one year in wood, with bigger barrels for the lesser appellations, and then for them to be racked into tank for the second winter. We adore Fichet’s style of pure, energetic Meursault while even his Bourgogne Blanc tastes like a superior appellation.

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Discreet wood surrounds ripe white peach, lemon rind and acacia blossom as well as a soft roasted nut character. There is excellent richness yet good detail too to the intense and mouth coating flavors that somewhat curiously, do not have the depth of the Gruyaches or the Chevalières, at least not yet anyway. We'll see in a few years as there is at least the underlying material to develop it. Note however that this is sufficiently forward that there isn't a lot of time in which to do so.
Allen Meadows - burghound.com - February 2011

Jean-Philippe feels this is the perfect example of Meursault. There is a nice touch of gunflint reduction on the nose, which leads into intense stone fruit before tightening up again with a twist of lime acidity on the finish. There is real elegance here, with a touch of toast and butter that lingers. A complete wine. Drink 2021-2028.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

Fichet’s big step forward came in 2000 when he moved the whole operation to splendid cellars at Le Creux du Coche by the Hôpital de Meursault. Jean-Philippe is looking for purity in his wines. He deals mostly with lieux-dits in Meursault with just one Premier Cru in Puligny. Constantly experimenting and refining, his wines have real definition and individuality, with the individual terroirs clearly exposed. The wines are raised in barrel for the first year, using larger demi- muids for the lesser appellations, then assembled in tank. A maximum of 30 percent new oak is used on any cuvée. It is hard not to be infected by Jean- Philippe’s enthusiasm and positivity. Despite being 40 percent down in 2016, he remained upbeat, explaining that he sees the variability of vintages as part and parcel of a vigneron ’s lot. The losses could have been much worse, but the domaine is equipped with candles which protect against frost and they work hard in the vines to keep grass low to reduce the risk of frost damage. He declared himself happy with the quality, but feels it is a vintage which will require patience on the part of the consumer, as many of the wines will be more austere in youth than those of 2015.

Grands Charrons sits at the same height as the village’s Premiers Crus but faces more to the east. The wine is beautifully aromatic in 2017, floral with a hint of honey and a fine, ripe entry to the palate, although still with plenty in reserve. Drink 2022-2028.

The harvest started on 30th August in Cailleret and Charmes, and was finished by 9th September. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay flowered in warm weather at the same time but, while the Pinot loved the heat, Chardonnay did not, with the resulting coulure and millerandage restricting yields to around 50hl/ha. Jean-Baptiste looked to get texture into his wines with skin contact and an extended fermentation rather than through bâtonnage, seeking to capture as much of the vital balancing freshness as possible.

The lovely, racy personality of this vineyard is well served by the generosity of 2017. The wine is very fruity and open, with notes of white flower and peach stone, but counterpointed by a firm, detailed structure, typical of this lime-rich site. Drink 2021-2025.

Since our visit last year, Patrick’s dream of an appellation exclusively for generic wines from the Côte d’Or has been realised and the label of the estate’s estimable Cuvée Oligocène proudly announces its new status. For 2017, Patrick’s daughter Marion explained, they didn’t need to keep too much of the lees, as the musts were already rich and they preferred to use bâtonnage for complexity. Harvesting began on 28th August and Marion feels there is a purer expression of terroir this year than last.

For those who enjoy mineral expressions of Meursault, Tesson is one of the most highly regarded village vineyards, facing east on the mid-slope. The nose is pure and clean with a marine character, while the palate is tight and tense with lots of energy and vibrancy, nicely supported by just enough fruit. Drink 2022-2029.

Jean-Philippe explained how he and his vineyard team had to work extremely hard in the aftermath of the 2016 frost, managing the vines to make sure that the following year’s growth would not be compromised. Meticulous marathonrunner Jean-Philippe is just the man for such an arduous task. He is delighted with the results, explaining that quality is excellent and the yield was neither too big, nor too small. These wines are as reliably fresh and precise as you would expect, with each vineyard’s character shining through.

This is very backward compared to lesser cuves, showing power and concentration rather than the detail of the fruit.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Jean-Philippes crop is down from 30 to 40% after the cold and wet flowering, but he is very happy with the quality. He started picking on Sunday 19th September and had finished before the rains came the following Friday. This is a domaine which has been consistently reliable in recent years, delivers excellent value for money and enjoys much deserved success.

Pure, clear and bright in colour with green tints; this is a fabulous, dancing wine, on the tips of its balletdancer feet, with beautiful oak integration. Really lively and very persistent, this has a fine feeling of elegance, and all white fruit.

Jean-Philippe is serene in the knowledge of the quality of his 2014 vintage. The grapes were entirely healthy, there were no problems in vinification, the maturation process is happening as it should and the wines are set to give a great deal of pleasure all round. There is less reduction than last year, so they will be accessible reasonably early, while still having good keeping potential.