2009 Meursault Goutte d’Or 1er Cru

The Gaunoux family goes back several hundred years in the Cote d'Or, but Jean-Michel Gaunoux, who previously worked with his father Francois at the family domain, established his own small operation in Meursault in 1990. He takes a light touch with manipulation, as well as with the use of new oak, and the few bottles of his wines that have come my way in recent years have indicated they they age gracefully i bottle. Gaunoux does a long (24 to 48 hours) debourbage. He ultimately allows much of the alcoholic fermentation to finish in barrel. He noted that he had not done any lees stirring since 2004, and that he has cut his sulfur doses in half. Gaunoux told me he racks after the next vintage, then assembles his wines in cuves, where they remain for a month before he bottles them.