2020 Volnay Village

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.