2016 Meursault Les Porusots 1er Cru
France
Meursault
Burgundy
White
Chardonnay
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2023 - 2030
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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.
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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.