2006 Meursault Perrières 1er Cru

This estate picked pinot very early, beginning on September 4, and then waited until September 10 to start harvesting chardonnay (the Corton-Charlemagne was brought in on September 15, and the Chevalier-Montrachet on the 17th). No chaptalization was done, but acidity levels were quite firm, said Martin Prieur, and the wines have real bite. When I asked enologist Nadine Gublin to compare the '07s to the estate's '04, she responded that the '07s will show more minerality and won't have the exotic quality of some of the '04s, which she said featured "some surmaturite, and a greater range of ripeness."

According to enologist Nadine Gublin, the chardonnay grapes in 2006 were not ripe as of September 10, and the estate waited. They ultimately began on the 20th and picked all the chardonnay in just three days, as the grapes turned golden in a hurry. Grape sugars went up quickly, said Gublin, with the fruit coming in at 13% to 14.5% potential alcohol, or about the same as the previous year. "There was a bit of noble rot," said Gublin, "but it was more a matter of surmaturite." Note that most of the 2006s were at the tail end of their malolactic fermentations, or had just finished. The Corton-Charlemagne, though, was barely halfway through its secondary fermentation. (Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY) Also recommended: Meursault Clos de Mazeray (86).