2012 Meursault En La Barre

Antoine Jobard described his young 2013s as "very acid before the malolactic fermentations."Although he told me that they were not at the level of the 2012s, "they will have more class than the '11s."He harvested from September 26 through October 4 as "there was nothing more to gain by waiting."Potential alcohol levels were in the healthy 12.5% to 13% range and a few wines were lightly chaptalized.Jobard was not sure which '13s had finished their malos as, like his father Francois, he does very little technical analysis prior to bottling his wines.But in any event, they were too reduced to taste this spring, with a number of them showing strong mercaptans.The 2012s, which Jobard planned to start bottling in June (they were last racked in September of 2013 but went back into futs with their fine lees), look to be harmonious and complete white Burgundies.He compared them to the estate's 2005s, adding that a few wines were a bit dried by hail damage and showed less-even ripeness."But they're good on the attack--not at all wimpy--and the crop was small," he pointed out."They show wet stone aromas similar to the 2005s and will be wines to age."Jobard vinifies uncrushed clusters, then does little cold setting of the must after the fermentation, bringing about six liters of lees into the barrels--a relatively high percentage of solids by current-day white Burgundy standards.