2012 Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru

Like many of his colleagues on the Cote de Beaune, Dominique Lafon has experienced two lean years with 2013 and 2012, producing 22 hectoliters per hectare in '13 and between 15 and 25 for chardonnay in '12. He told me that the 2013 premier crus convey a feeling of acidity and that they remind him of his "crystal-clear" 2010s.The 2012s, in comparison, are more minerally wines, "dense and balanced."Lafon pointed out that the 2012s gained from fining:"they were rocks before that."Incidentally, among the steps Lafon has taken in recent years to avoid premature oxidation of his wines, he now allows 10% of the juice in the press to brown.He then racks it clear, sulfurs it and adds it to the tank. I have provided a new set of single-score notes for the 2012s, but please note that some of these wines were still in tank, awaiting bottling the week after my visit. (Classic Wine Imports, www.classicwineimports.com; also a Daniel Johnnes selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com)

Dominique Lafon, who told me he considers 2010 to be "the perfect vintage for white wines," has a very concentrated set of 2012s in barrel, with crop levels down considerably from the norm.The last of the three hail storms hit the hillside vineyards of Meursault, said Lafon.He noted that acidity levels in the 2012s were typically 4.3 to 4.4 grams per liter, adding that "you feel more acidity in the 2011s because the wines have less body."A couple of his 2012s had not finished their malolactic fermentations when I visited at the end of May.The 2011s had been bottled between a couple days and a month before my tasting at the estate.Lafon told me about "a new little trick" he used with the 2011s to protect the wines against premature oxidation.He injected some CO2 in the process of moving the wines from the barrel to the tank in order to replace the CO2 that would otherwise have been lost during the pumping process.(Classic Wine Imports, www.classicwineimports.com; also a Daniel Johnnes selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com)