2006 Meursault Narvaux

Jean-Francois Mestre, the son-in-law of Bernard Michelot and long-time winemaker here, started bringing in the pinot noir during the last two days of August in 2007, and then stopped for a week before picking chardonnay from September 9 through 18, pausing again in the middle for a couple of days. "It was a very complicated harvest," he summarized. Grape sugars were a healthy 12.5% to 13.2% and none of the crus were chaptalized. Mestre describes the wines as "very typical, fresh Burgundian chardonnay." He stirred the lees a total of seven to ten times, then stopped in early April "to avoid getting a buttery character." The wines will remain on their lees until mid-September and then be racked into cuve for three months prior to bottling. Mestre, who began vinifying here in 1993, noted that prior to 2003 the wines were bottled before the following harvest. By the way, Mestre will be bottling half his 2007 crop with screwcaps. (Represented by Russell Herman, Berkeley Heights, NJ: importers include Boston Wine Company, Somerville, MA; Vintage Wines, Des Plaines, IL; and Vin de Garde, Portland, OR) Also recommended: Meursault Sous La Velle (86).