1996 Meursault Les Charmes

Olivier Leflaive own holdings account for just 10% of this firm total output; of the rest, 40% is purchased in grapes, the other 60% in juice. My first visit to this producer in several years turned up an impressively rich and in some instances exotic crop of '97s in the works; one can only hope that these wines receive a gentle bottling. "1997 was in general a bit phenolic," winemaker Franck Grux told me, "and due to warm ambient temperatures longer debourbage was critical. It was also a vintage that featured some degree of overripeness in the fruit." My tasting of the '97s began with multiple components of not yet assembled village wines from Meursault, Puligny and Chassagne; of these, the Meursault was the standout, with uncanny richness for its appellation. The house had just bottled its 1996 grand crus, and Grux maintained that the wines would be untasteable until at least the fall of '98, so my notes below are limited to several premier crus sampled in New York in early August.