2007 Meursault Les Tessons

Morey's 2008s-especially the wines in his colder Morey-Blanc cellar-had only recently begun their malolactic fermentations so I will have to wait until next year to provide notes. He described 2008 as a tricky vintage that required a lot of selection. But he's clearly high on 2007, which he says "combines the abundance and minerally acidity of 2004 and the warmer style of 1999." The fruit in 2007 benefitted from being picked earlier, when the days were still long," he went on. "They remind me a bit of the 1996s in the way they combine good sugar and good acidity, but there's less gras in the 2007s." The 2007s at both the domain and at Morey-Blanc were mostly bottled in March of 2009. This was yet another set of wines that was more impressive in bottle than in barrel.

Morey's domain wines were actually easier to taste at the end of May than his negociant offerings (see my coverage under Morey-Blanc), as only a few of the latter wines had finished their malolactic fermentations. Still, says Morey, his negociant wines typically "find their balance" earlier than his domain wines, and on occasion he prefers the Morey-Blanc bottlings during their first two years. Short pruning and ebourgeonnage were critical in 2007, said Morey, as were treatments against mildew. "The chardonnay was not too bad when crop loads were reasonable," he added. Morey stirred the lees three times a week through January as he felt the '07s needed more stuffing.