Tasted in Meursault with ‘Mr Genevrières’ Jean-Pierre Latour, 26 May 2023
Domaine Latour-Giraud
6 Route D974
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 21 43
www.domaine-latour-giraud.com
More reports with Domaine Latour-Giraud
Jean-Pierre on 2022:
“Very happy – a vintage with fine purity and a very expressive, naturally expressive, fruit. Very elegant – but with structure and fine supporting acidity. They have a certain precocity vs the 21s – but it’s early to say – but I’m seeing good things – a volume like 2020 – so satisfying.”
Jean-Pierre on 2021:
“7-8 hl/ha ha this year… It’s the worst here – certainly less wine than in 2016 – some appellations don’t exist, others have 85% less. Our villages Meursault was our best return – we only lost 2/3rds… The reds don’t have a great phenolic maturity due to the cool and rain in some places so I chose to declassify the wines one level – there are a few cuvées that don’t exist this year. The reds are wines that could have come from the 1980s but made with modern techniques and equipment. For whites, I think we had phenomenal material – I think it better than 2014 – the crème de la crème. I started bottling with reds in this vintage – I wanted to keep the freshness of the fruit so they were done in January – the two months that followed were for the whites…”
The wines…
A fabulous range – almost all are worth a special search on your part – but it won’t be easy as there is so little!
2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Not deeply coloured – indeed an impression of some age at the rim – but the aromas are deep and inviting – there’s a perfume here. Wide, juicy, good intensity – the tannin is grainless – fully in control. Direct, frank finishing – give it 6-12 months to round out the finishing bitters – it’s long and very good.
2021 Pommard Cuvée Carmen
A cushioned depth of darker fruit greets my nose – then a flash of fine floral topping – lovely. More direct and mineral but silky too – I love this beam of intensity that runs from the middle to finishing flavours. Yes – that’s a lovely wine.
Of course the declassified Clos des Chênes
Less aromatic impact but a fine airy style to this slightly cushioned red fruit – also growing in floral perfume. Cool, clean, broad but still with intensity – declassified but properly 1er cru I’d say. A great villages – and a very good Clos des Chênes too! Wait a couple of years to lessen the faint chalkiness of finishing tannin…
Les Whites:
“I stayed true to each climat for the 1ers – so no blending of the 1ers – where there were not enough grapes, such as Bouchères, Poruzots or Perrières I blended those into the villages Meursault… The wines are cork-sealed but they are triaged by density to aim for the highest possible homogeneity whilst remaining a natural product:”
All from the commune of Meursault.
Hmm – a broad and inviting width of fruit clarity and modest toast – yes! A wine of generosity on one hand but clarity on the other. Growing in stature in the mouth, always full-flavoured but mouth-watering with balance- that’s a simply great and finely textured Bourgogne. Meursault by any other name! Faintly tannic finishing…
2021 Meursault Cuvée Charles-Maxime
Named after two grandfathers – the Latour and the Giraud from which the domaine takes its name. Normally, 7 different parcels that offer a round view of the village.
A more golden-fruited roundness to this nose. Direct, more mineral – charging energy here – intense, full of flavour – a wine that can halt your conversation – super stuff – I love!
2 barrels instead of 11-12…
A more vertical nose of depth and higher tones that are more floral. More mineral – a little more calm than the (last) villages but still with a fine yellow-citrus acidity and energy. There’s a ‘specialness’ to this wine – broad and clean finishing too – give it time – it could be a great one – drink the previous (2!) while waiting.
Half dessus and half top of the vineyard. But not the bottom part that was reclassified in 1974…
A vibrant nose of faint toast and zesty fruit. Direct but beautifully textured – with just a mm or two of cushion. Involving, broad waves of flavour – concentration but never heavy or fat. A generous wine of both detail and intensity and I love this too!
A width of aroma, more faintly with toast and a more perfumed accent to the citrus fruit. More supple and melting over the palate – less about generosity and concentration, more about perfume and cushion to the clean fine flavours – versus the Charmes. Such a length of finish too – I actually don’t know if I prefer this or the Charmes – I loved the Charmes – this is so different but also so great…
2021 Meursault 1er Genevrières Cuvée des Pierre
This wine also exists in 2021 but so little was made that it was bottled only in magnum “to try to avoid opening” so not tasted.
Completely different – a wall of higher-toned aromatics – more white-flower in style. More incisive and structured than the Meursaults – flowing with super, mouth-watering, flavours. Vibrant wine – and yes, with tension – this is a high-voltage wine!