2006 Meursault En Luraule

"I picked early in 2007, maybe too early," said Remi Jobard, who began on September 1 and chaptalized his musts up to a full degree (he began with potential alcohol between 12% and 12.5%). Jobard described the new set of wines as pure, minerally and very aromatic but quite dry, with no roundness or suppleness. "They're for the experienced Burgundy lover," he told me. Jobard believes that his very rich 2006s will be drinkable young, but that the '07s will need time. The '07s finished very dry, at no more than one gram per liter of residual sugar, according to Jobard. Incidentally, Jobard recently purchased about three-quarters of a hectare of vines in Meursault Narvaux.

Just when I thought I had a fix on Meursault 2006, I visited Remi Jobard on the last day of my trip. Jobard did not start harvesting until September 25, and yet his wines for the most part do not lack for freshness or spine. "There may have been 5% botrytized grapes in chardonnay," said Jobard, "but I didn't go out of my way to eliminate this fruit." Nor were there any special problems with insufficient acidity, he went on, and the wines are more elegant and aromatic than the '05s, which are richer. "The '06s are easier to taste now," he told me, "while the '05s have so much material that you can't really drink them now. But the very dry '04s are for the true Burgundy lover." In fact, Jobard's '06s were unusually aromatic for a new vintage in this cellar, as the malos finished quickly and the wines had been sulfited by late winter.