Meursault Lieu-Dit

A small cuvée from a vineyard adjacent to Auxey-Duresses, there are some light notes of barrel toast in the friendly bouquet, with generous fruit that avoids being too full of sunshine in this cooler location. This will be attractive early. Drink 2018-2022.
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.

Bright colour, pure and clear with a slight green tint. A lovely Meursault character to this: ripe yet not clumsy, good acidity, with a range of fresh fruit behind. Lovely tension here.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

This has an attractive, palish colour with a very fine, fragrant nose. An elegant Meursault, this nonetheless delivers a full, rounded palate, with the mineral acidity nicely woven in. There are little white pears in evidence on the palate, which extends to a charming finish.

Despite the ravages of hail over the last few vintages, Jean-Yves has successfully converted his vineyards to organic, and is certified from the 2014 vintage. Though Meursault, Beaune and Volnay suffered once again from the weather, Rully saw a respectable harvest. Jean-Yves reports healthy fruit, with not especially high sugar levels. The reds remind him of 2010, while there is more flesh to the 2014 whites than popular vintages such as 2004 or 2007.

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.

Jean-Philippe Fichet is a grower from Meursault who is driven by the desire to make great wines. From the second you enter his immaculate cave you know there will be serious wine to be found. The spotless converted barn close by l'Hôpital in Meursault is air-conditioned and provides a welcome relief from his scattered and cramped conditions of a few years ago. Constantly experimenting and refining, his wines have real definition and individuality, with the individual terroirs clearly exposed.

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.

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.

Bright fresh yellow with a lovely fresh mirabelle zest to it, very good volume of fruit through the middle, a lovely thread of acidity, and then the fruit returns to sweep through the finish. A real bargain.
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’.

Lighter colour from the upper hillside and with a more mineral nose. Really quite elegant and certainly detailed. Lovely fresh lemons here, very zesty, perhaps the usual lime blossom even. Fine boned, concentrated and very long. Rather impressive.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

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

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.

Burgundy 2012 En Primeur - Staff Favourite
Jean-Philippe Fichet must have pulled the stops out with his Chevalieres this year - it pipped Tesson, for me its main contender. Oozing white-stone fruit this has some real, grand cru level, power behind its tense and very long finish. Performing better than ever.
Tom Cave, Fine Wine

Fine and chiselled, quite floral and plenty of energy, this hits the high notes very well. Displaying excellent length; a wine in harmony. Thoroughly recommended in 2012.
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.

A touch more colour on this wine, and an attractive aromatic nose, with ripe pears, weight through the middle, and very good length. The potential is clearly there but this needs more time.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau began picking on 17th September, the same day as in 2010, and harvested over eight days. Overall the yield was around 30 hl/ha with the lower-lying vineyards such as Bourgogne Blanc and Meursault Genevrières the least affected. Even the badly hailed vines reached maturity and there was no rot to speak of. Indeed, Jean-Baptiste has found the 2012s easy enough to handle once the grapes were picked. All the wines were racked before the new harvest, and those from Tessons upwards have been returned to barrel but with no more new wood.

This wine reminds me of Helen Schlegel's description in Howard's End of Beethoven's 5th goblins tiptoeing across the Universe. Quite. By which I mean it is full of subtle nuances tiptoeing across the palate. Very fine and elegant.
(Jasper Morris MW, BBR Buyer)

The nose of Leroux's wine is fresh and stylish, in the chiselled style of a hillside vineyard. Full of plump, white fruit, Meursault Les Vireuils has a lovely mineral finish and is thoroughly attractive!

This Meursault wine from Javillier has a most beguiling nose, reminiscent of lime blossom, just what's wanted in 2009. Medium bodied with the typical rounded Meursault mouth feel, but also with a pure fresh minerality owing to the hillside site. It’s just coming into its own, but with three or more years ahead.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director