2017 Meursault Les Porusots 1er Cru

In recent years, Domaine des Comtes Lafon has been in transition, as Dominique Lafon hands the reins to daughter, Léa, and nephew, Pierre Lafon. The latter greeted me in Meursault. Dominique has his own project in his name, working out of the shared facility in Bligny-lès-Beaune, that unfortunately I did not have time to taste this year. This comprehensive tasting included their Mâconnais wines. Readers should note that I made a short video with Pierre Lafon that can be found in the Media section circa this report’s publication.

We began with the reds that, similar to other producers’, eschew the use of whole bunches in this season. Also, following conversations with Dominique, the wines underwent a little more racking, the next due a little earlier than usual in November rather than December (this may entail earlier bottling, though no decision has been made). The Mâcon wines were picked from September 1, then the Côte de Beaune whites began in Montrachet on September 4. The reds were hot on their heels two days later. The Mâcon wines were bottled in June/July 2024 except for the Clos des Fours, bottled just prior to picking.

In 2023, I am smitten by the red Volnays that exude purity and finesse. These wines seem light on their feet yet deliver wonderful intensity and seductive silky textures. In particular, Les Champans delivers everything you could wish for. The whites center on Meursault, of course. The Les Perrières and Genevrières are the two predictable standouts. There are the usual seven barrels of Montrachet, the epitome of intensity and finesse, and one of the best that I have tasted at this prenatal stage. Judging by the quality of these latest wines, it looks like one of Meursault’s most prominent producers lies in safe hands.

Arguably the most prominent Meursault producer, it was big news when Dominique Lafon retired and handed the running to his daughter Léa and nephew Pierre Lafon, the former having taken maternity leave after giving birth to her two children. Of course, Dominique Lafon remains a presence at the winery. They taste together every other week, though in the past, on more than one occasion, Lafon has emphasized how they make the calls. Dominique did drop in during my visit, as I was sure and hoped he would, though it was Pierre Lafon who took me through the wines that included their Mâconnais range. “The 2022 is our last vintage with Caroline Gon [who is not devoted to her and her husband’s domaine, Frantz-Chagnolou]. There was a transition period between her and our new winemaker, Elsie Moore, who has now taken over.” As well as the Mâconnais wines, we tasted through their complete portfolio of reds and whites. “The reds were racked after the harvest at the end of September. They were picked from August 29 and finished on September 4. The alcohol levels are around 13.5%, with a pH around 3.50. We have a new de-stemmer, so we have some whole bunches, around 50% for some cuvées. The whites will be bottled as early as January next year.”

Although Comtes Lafon is renowned for its Meursaults, readers should note that their reds can be outstanding. I was intrigued to taste their Volnay Les Santenots-du-Milieu, which includes stems (50%), for the first time, a move that enhances this cuvée. It’s not their new recipe, and readers should be advised that the 2023 contains nary a stem. But I feel that their Volnays would benefit from their addition. Beady-eyed readers will also spot a couple of maiden vintages from new fermage agreements: a Puligny Village and Puligny Les Charmes, the latter very promising. Amongst the Meursaults, I usually find that the Les Perrières rules the roost, but in 2022, its position is usurped by a fabulous Les Charmes, a Premier Cru that seemed to revel in the growing season, closely followed by a superb Genevrières. Predictably, the Montrachet is stunning, aged half in new oak in its first year, then used oak for the remaining nine months. It is, as I write in my one-word summation, majestic.

“My uncle has retired,” Dominique Lafon’s nephew Pierre tells me before we start tasting, to which I rejoinder. “What kind of retirement? There’s retiring, and there’s retiring.” As I expected, Dominique Lafon is not bronzing on a sun lounger in the Costa del Sol and soon holds court down in the cellar. We even nip over to the crush facility in Bligny to taste his négociant wine under his name, which has always remained in the shadow of Domaine des Comte Lafon. He’ll devote more time to this side project as he keeps a respectful distance and gives Pierre and his daughter Léa the space to put their stamp on one of the most famous estates in the Côte d’Or, dropping in once every couple of weeks. (Readers can find reviews of those 2021s under “Dominique Lafon” in this report.)

Back to the Domaine, Lafon tells me that 2021 was the most challenging vintage he had ever seen. But Pierre gives me the lowdown… “It was a complicated growing season with the frost, when we lost two-thirds of the crop, mostly in the Premier Crus on the slopes like Les Perrières and Genevrières. We didn’t prune late, like in 2022. It’s something we are looking at. Afterward, it was rainy with a cooler summer. There were few sunny days, and the ground was always wet, so we could not go out in the tractor to spray. But the grapes were in pretty good condition, and we only had one parcel of Meursault to sort at harvest. We picked between 17 and 27 September. We were lucky because we only had one day of rain.” Léa Lafon tells me: “We thought conditions would be awful, but they weren’t bad at all. Altogether, we were worn out by the year. When you pick in August, everything is so fast, but in September, things go more slowly as there is less sun, so waiting a day doesn’t make much difference. Most of the whites and Volnay were picked before the rain. The fermentation went very smoothly, and there wasn’t so much work in the cellar as the volume was so small. The malo took some time as the cellar was quite cold, some cuvées finishing in February or March. We used no new barrels in 2021, the same as in 2016, and just used one-year-old barrels. When you have a small volume in small tanks, you can get a bit of oxidation, so we might bottle a bit earlier.”

These are impressive wines, crowned by a superlative Meursault Les Perrières that dares to outshine the Montrachet, though as Dominique Lafon mentions, they could switch the following week. Quantities are severely depleted - good luck trying to find the measly 450-odd bottles of Genevrières, yet terroirs shine through, just one or two cuvées missing their usual elan. There is no Volnay Village this year, though the Premier Crus are well worth seeking out and are surfeit with crunchy red berry fruit.

Dominique Lafon was in typically irrepressible form when I dropped in at his winery in Meursault. His son, Pierre, took me through the reds first. “The reds are racked but not sulfured,” he told me. “They are very elegant in style with between 13.5° and 13.8° alcohol, and they will be bottled in late spring, as I think they can take a slightly longer aging.” We then moved into the adjacent cellar, where I tasted his 2020 Mâcon wines, which I have moved to my small Mâconnais report, before broaching his Meursaults. I asked Lafon how he compared the 2019 and 2020 vintages. “The 2019s are slightly rounder and more appealing,” he told me. “The tartaric backbone of the 2020s gives them great energy. The 2019s remind me of old-time ripe vintages, maybe like the 1992.” [At this juncture, I asked to what vintage he would compare 2020, but he was stumped for an answer!] Lafon continued, “I think the 2020s are fresher than the 2018s. You feel more heat on the 2018s. Picking started on August 20 with the Bouchères and Perrières, and then we picked the reds, which were harvested very quickly.” Readers should also note that the 2020 Montrachet is the first vintage not completely vinified in new oak; around one-third was new this year, and there will be no new oak in 2021. The 2020s are excellent in quality, quite expressive and intense, full of Meursault DNA. Whereas I normally put the Meursault-Perrières on top, I feel that the earlier growing season did not benefit this Premier Cru as much, and instead the Meursault-Charmes is my pick of the bunch, with Genevrières hot on its tail and Bouchères the “hidden gem,” not that those exist given the status of Comtes-Lafon. Since 2014, all Lafon’s wines have been bottled under Diam 30 closures.

Try to imagine Meursault without Dominique Lafon? Difficult, isn’t it? I hope that day does not pass for a long time, though this year’s visit marked the beginning of a new chapter as Lafon was flanked by his nephew Pierre, who has returned from working for a Chicago distributor to commence the real learning at the domaine, alongside Lafon’s daughter Léa. Discussing the future, he told me that they had not really decided how responsibilities would be split and the plan is for them to spend the first years working jointly in all areas of running the winery and let the division come naturally. Dominique Lafon was in typically irrepressible form, loquacious and candid as ever, with the odd sprinkling of expletives. I had no pressing appointment afterwards, enabling me to spend over three hours tasting through the 2018 and 2019 vintages, plus his most recent Mâconnais wines from 2019 and a random older bottle that I parsed away for a Cellar Favourite.

Back to the main topic – the 2018 and 2019 vintages. “It was an early bud break,” Lafon explained. “Or is that the normal now? There was an early flowering that was not that good and led to the shortfall in crop. It was not caused by the rain. Maybe it was too warm? There was not much disease pressure during the warm and dry summer, so it was easy in that respect. We started harvesting on 5 September and at that time it was warm and that makes it hard for the pickers. The end of the ripening happened very fast. There was more than 1% additional potential alcohol in four days in some places. It was go, go, go. We had to move. The challenge was to organize the cellar to handle the incoming fruit, though the short crop helped. We picked fast just as we have just done in 2020, where there was a big crop. We finished picking around 14 September, whilst the Mâconnais wines took around a fortnight to pick. The fermentation in Mâconnais was difficult because the sugars were slow to finish whereas it was much smoother in Meursault. The 2019s in both Mâconnais and Meursault have more alcohol than in 2018, between 13.5° and 13.8° though nothing over 14.0°. It was not as hot as in 2018 but it was shortness of the crop that led to the concentration. The acidity levels are normal with pH around 3.2 to 3.5. The average yield in the Mâconnais was 40-45hl/ha compared to 60hl/ha in 2018, whilst in Meursault it was around 40hl/ha, though 25-30hl/ha for the reds. The 2019 reds are racked but not sulphured, the 2018 reds were bottled in late spring as I thought they could take a slightly longer ageing.”

This was an excellent set of wines from Dominique Lafon, who I would aver is currently making the best wines of a long career. The 2018 and 2019 vintages are closely matched in quality and arguing one set is superior is not easy, not least because one is comparing unfinished and finished wines. One thing I did take away was the quality of Lafon’s Meursault Porusots that shines in both vintages. We also discussed the reds at length. My palate errs towards the Champans and Clos des Chêne that tend to be more classically styled, whilst perhaps the more celebrated Santenots-du-Milieu is higher-toned with darker fruit and more obvious floral aromatics. I absolutely adored the Volnay 2019s that seemed to combine elegance and power to great effect. Among the range of Meursault Premier Crus, the Les Perrières is regal, the Les Charmes taking silver medal. Perhaps most interesting and an augury of things to come is the 2019 Montrachet, the last vintage to be matured in new oak for its entire élevage, the 2020 was racked into 50% new and 50% used oak. It will be fascinating to see the results and whether it will be continued. At the other end of the spectrum, I tasted nearly all of the Mâconnais wines under Les Hériters des Comtes Lafon and these represent outstanding value. Lafon remarked that even though they are higher in alcohol, they feel fresher. I plan a more in-depth report on the region in 2021 but since these wines are entering the market and tend to be consumed young, I include them here.

Try to imagine Meursault without Dominique Lafon? Difficult, isn’t it? I hope that day does not pass for a long time, though this year’s visit marked the beginning of a new chapter as Lafon was flanked by his nephew Pierre, who has returned from working for a Chicago distributor to commence the real learning at the domaine, alongside Lafon’s daughter Léa. Discussing the future, he told me that they had not really decided how responsibilities would be split and the plan is for them to spend the first years working jointly in all areas of running the winery and let the division come naturally. Dominique Lafon was in typically irrepressible form, loquacious and candid as ever, with the odd sprinkling of expletives. I had no pressing appointment afterwards, enabling me to spend over three hours tasting through the 2018 and 2019 vintages, plus his most recent Mâconnais wines from 2019 and a random older bottle that I parsed away for a Cellar Favourite.

Back to the main topic – the 2018 and 2019 vintages. “It was an early bud break,” Lafon explained. “Or is that the normal now? There was an early flowering that was not that good and led to the shortfall in crop. It was not caused by the rain. Maybe it was too warm? There was not much disease pressure during the warm and dry summer, so it was easy in that respect. We started harvesting on 5 September and at that time it was warm and that makes it hard for the pickers. The end of the ripening happened very fast. There was more than 1% additional potential alcohol in four days in some places. It was go, go, go. We had to move. The challenge was to organize the cellar to handle the incoming fruit, though the short crop helped. We picked fast just as we have just done in 2020, where there was a big crop. We finished picking around 14 September, whilst the Mâconnais wines took around a fortnight to pick. The fermentation in Mâconnais was difficult because the sugars were slow to finish whereas it was much smoother in Meursault. The 2019s in both Mâconnais and Meursault have more alcohol than in 2018, between 13.5° and 13.8° though nothing over 14.0°. It was not as hot as in 2018 but it was shortness of the crop that led to the concentration. The acidity levels are normal with pH around 3.2 to 3.5. The average yield in the Mâconnais was 40-45hl/ha compared to 60hl/ha in 2018, whilst in Meursault it was around 40hl/ha, though 25-30hl/ha for the reds. The 2019 reds are racked but not sulphured, the 2018 reds were bottled in late spring as I thought they could take a slightly longer ageing.”

This was an excellent set of wines from Dominique Lafon, who I would aver is currently making the best wines of a long career. The 2018 and 2019 vintages are closely matched in quality and arguing one set is superior is not easy, not least because one is comparing unfinished and finished wines. One thing I did take away was the quality of Lafon’s Meursault Porusots that shines in both vintages. We also discussed the reds at length. My palate errs towards the Champans and Clos des Chêne that tend to be more classically styled, whilst perhaps the more celebrated Santenots-du-Milieu is higher-toned with darker fruit and more obvious floral aromatics. I absolutely adored the Volnay 2019s that seemed to combine elegance and power to great effect. Among the range of Meursault Premier Crus, the Les Perrières is regal, the Les Charmes taking silver medal. Perhaps most interesting and an augury of things to come is the 2019 Montrachet, the last vintage to be matured in new oak for its entire élevage, the 2020 was racked into 50% new and 50% used oak. It will be fascinating to see the results and whether it will be continued. At the other end of the spectrum, I tasted nearly all of the Mâconnais wines under Les Hériters des Comtes Lafon and these represent outstanding value. Lafon remarked that even though they are higher in alcohol, they feel fresher. I plan a more in-depth report on the region in 2021 but since these wines are entering the market and tend to be consumed young, I include them here.

Dominique Lafon was a little tardy for our 2pm rendezvous. When he finally materialized he told me that he had been at the police station as his car had been stolen at lunchtime. I presume that the robbers were hoping there were a few bottles of Montrachet on the back seat. Once he had gathered himself, we set upon a fairly comprehensive tasting that included his Mâconnais, bottled at the end of July and end of August, as small compensation for being unable to cover the region this year, with several bottled 2017s. "The 2017 Volnays were bottled in early Spring but they were naturally clear. I do not like the effect of filtration and so none of them were filtered. The 2018 reds were cropped at 35-45hl/ha. I used 3gm/L of SO2 before Christmas and kept the wines at 23gm/L over the summer, adding 1gm before summer. The wines have not been racked, which is what we usually do if there is no reduction. The 2018 whites were harvested from 24 August."

Production at this top estate was cut dramatically by frost in 2016. To cite just two extreme examples, Dominique Lafon made 5 barrels of village Meursault, vs. a normal 50, and 8 barrels of Clos de la Barre, compared to a normal 55. He also produced just a single barrel of Meursault Désirée from his half a hectare of vines, which according to my calculations is the equivalent of 4.5 hectoliters per hectare. And yet Lafon told me that he doesn’t find obvious differences between his frosted and non-frosted wine in ’16. “There were contre-bourgeons in 2016, only the first set of buds,” he explained. “If our first set of buds survived, that’s what we made the wine from.” Due to the tiny crop, Lafon purchased no new barrels in 2016, and last year he described these wines as “charming and pleasant,” comparing them to the 2000s.

Dominique Lafon made just one-third of a normal white wine crop in 2016 and for that reason purchased no new oak barrels for these wines. He views 2016 as "charming and pleasant--a classic seductive vintage with a lightness, but not as serious as 2015." Although the pHs are a bit higher in 2016 than in the previous year, Lafon noted that it's too early to say whether the 2016s are more fragile wines. "They have less acidity but also less body; they have a different balance but an attractive balance. They remind me of the 2000s in their charm. They have nothing in excess." The '16s finished their malos early and had been sulfited by the time of my visit, and Lafon was considering racking some of them into tanks rather than back into barrels.

Lafon had only started bottling his 2015s the week before my visit, so I have provided a second set of notes on a number of these wines (the ‘15s had been moved into tanks in January, on their fine lees). Lafon told me that the ‘15s had become leaner in a positive way with aging, as fining has brought greater precision, and were now sharper in their fruit profile than they were a year ago. He thinks they will be strong agers—“but not the wines picked at 14.5%.” He noted that the 2003 vintage was very hot and early but that the wines are aging very well. To make his point, he opened a bottle of the ’03 Charmes, which was still a pale yellow-gold and had not changed much in color over the past ten years. It’s a hugely ripe, round, winter style of wine with a classic Meursault oatmeal element (Lafon suggested pairing it with chicken in a wine and cream sauce) and incredible depth of texture. Its slight warmth was buffered by its strong impression of sweetness and the wine was still remarkably fresh. I rated it 93 points.

Dominique Lafon made just one-third of a normal white wine crop in 2016 and for that reason purchased no new oak barrels for these wines. He views 2016 as "charming and pleasant--a classic seductive vintage with a lightness, but not as serious as 2015." Although the pHs are a bit higher in 2016 than in the previous year, Lafon noted that it's too early to say whether the 2016s are more fragile wines. "They have less acidity but also less body; they have a different balance but an attractive balance. They remind me of the 2000s in their charm. They have nothing in excess." The '16s finished their malos early and had been sulfited by the time of my visit, and Lafon was considering racking some of them into tanks rather than back into barrels.

Lafon had only started bottling his 2015s the week before my visit, so I have provided a second set of notes on a number of these wines (the ‘15s had been moved into tanks in January, on their fine lees). Lafon told me that the ‘15s had become leaner in a positive way with aging, as fining has brought greater precision, and were now sharper in their fruit profile than they were a year ago. He thinks they will be strong agers—“but not the wines picked at 14.5%.” He noted that the 2003 vintage was very hot and early but that the wines are aging very well. To make his point, he opened a bottle of the ’03 Charmes, which was still a pale yellow-gold and had not changed much in color over the past ten years. It’s a hugely ripe, round, winter style of wine with a classic Meursault oatmeal element (Lafon suggested pairing it with chicken in a wine and cream sauce) and incredible depth of texture. Its slight warmth was buffered by its strong impression of sweetness and the wine was still remarkably fresh. I rated it 93 points.

Dominique Lafon considers 2015 to be a great vintage for Burgundy’s red wines “and nice and appealing for the whites. They will never have the refinement of the ‘14s but they’re not heavy.” The Chardonnay grapes were very ripe but none of his parcels was over 13.5%, as Lafon started harvesting on August 27. Acidity levels were healthy, he added. Some of the 2015s finished their malolactic fermentations earlier than usual and were sulfited last November, but Lafon had a few of his ‘15s in stainless steel tanks at the beginning of June to get the malos to finish.

Like many of his colleagues on the Côte de Beaune, Lafon has taken a variety of measures in recent years to prevent premature oxidation of his wines. He is seeking to bottle "more backward" wines by working more reductively, racking his wines into stainless steel tanks earlier, rather than simply transferring them to another set of barrels. He's also racking without exposure to air and keeping more CO2 in the wines. His overall objective is "to control the amount of dissolved oxygen in the wines at every step," he told me, adding that his wines now go into bottle with just one part per million. High levels of dissolved oxygen at the time of bottling can quickly absorb free sulfur and leave the wines vulnerable to oxidation. Incidentally, Lafon has been using all DIAM corks since 2013, having recently adopted the new, extra-thick and long DIAM 30s for his top bottlings.

Dominique Lafon was in the middle of bottling his 2014 whites when I stopped by to taste on the last day of May. He had racked the wines into tanks in January, a bit earlier than previously, and several of them were still awaiting bottling. These are very concentrated, pure wines from vines picked early, and they have the sappiness and grip to reward aging.

Dominique Lafon had not yet bottled his 2013s at the end of May as the malolactic fermentations were unusually long, but most of the wines had been resting in tank since January or February. Lafon believes the village wines are good and that "some premier crus are tremendous. They have sound acidity and show good tightness today. And they're more refined than the village wines." As of 2013, Lafon has gone entirely to DIAM corks.

Lafon was an early harvester in 2014, starting on September 10. Potential alcohol levels ranged between 12.5% and 13% but crop levels were off dramatically in most of his Meursault parcels. With low yields, though, came an extra measure of concentration.

Dominique Lafon had not yet bottled his 2013s at the end of May as the malolactic fermentations were unusually long, but most of the wines had been resting in tank since January or February. Lafon believes the village wines are good and that "some premier crus are tremendous. They have sound acidity and show good tightness today. And they're more refined than the village wines." As of 2013, Lafon has gone entirely to DIAM corks.

Lafon was an early harvester in 2014, starting on September 10. Potential alcohol levels ranged between 12.5% and 13% but crop levels were off dramatically in most of his Meursault parcels. With low yields, though, came an extra measure of concentration.

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)

Comtes Lafon fans will be thrilled to see two new 1er Crus in the range, Bouchères and Poruzots, both leased plots the Domaine has acquired access to in the Domaine Rene Manuel transaction. Dominique Lafon describes 2011 as a vintage with normal yields, which is to say 40-50hl for the whites. Overall sugars and acidities are both down from 2010, which makes the wines virtually impossible to resist young as they are so impeccably balanced and harmonious. Lafon prefers longer elevage in barrel than many of his colleagues, which means the whites might spend as long as 20 months in barrel prior to being bottled.

Dominique Lafon described 2011 as a year of more heterogenous quality than 2010, although he noted that the harvest did not bring "an enormous crop." As to 2010, Lafon says that the wines have "exploded in tank and gained in refinement. They're built like the 2008s, which are bigger and weightier but not as elegant. The 2010s are better balanced: their weight and acidity are integrated better." Some of the 2010s had been bottled just days before my visit, but their high quality was plain to see. (Classic Wine Imports, www.classicwineimports.com; also a Daniel Johnnes Selection, www.danieljohnneswines.com; imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com)