Tasted in Meursault with Vincent Latour, 17 May 2023.
Domaine Vincent Latour
6 Rue du 8 Mai 1945
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 22 49
www.domaine-vincentlatour.com
More reports with Domaine Vincent Latour.
Vincent on 2021:
“2021? – It really depends on the sector – but for the domaine, our volume is about one-third that of a normal vintage. The bottling for the whites was completed in December – some reds were finished in January. Many cuvées are missing – I have no Puligny, no Pellans, no Genevrières and no cuvée Héritage – but I’m happy with the wines that I have and they were We had 11-12.7° across the range! And it’s better than in 2016 – all our Meursaults were assembled that year – we didn’t use any candles in 2016 so the volume that year was worse than in 2021… The reds were more complicated in 21 though – they are typically Burgundian!”
The wines…
You should have some patience with Vincent’s 2021 reds – but his Cras is great! His whites are peppered with great, covetable wines. Less so on this showing the 1er crus but that’s because they have been slightly dulled and rounded by their coats of oak. You can patiently wait for them given their DIAM seals – but here is a great 2021 cellar for whites – particularly the regionals and villages!
Vincent has been building up to using DIAM Origine for a number of years – having started on this road in 2006 – now all the wines are sealed like this. Diam 5 for the Bourgognes, it’s 10s for the villages and 30 origine for the GCs,..”
2021 Bourgogne Blanc
Plenty of aromatic density – plenty of yellow citrus too. Vibrant and decently mineral – long finishing – excellent Bourgogne.
Mainly from the Volnay side of Meursault but a little from the Puligny side.
More direct and vibrant – there’s a slightly creamy accent to this vibrant yellow citrus fruit. Extra volume – lovely finish – always with a really interesting intensity – I love this finish – it’s potentially a great Bourgogne…
2021 St.Aubin Cuvée Thomas
A mix of domaine and purchases made at the time of the harvest.
Extra width in this depth of aroma. More airy – lovely volume in this structure – clarity of simply delicious flavour.
A little more airy – but such fine clarity and energy. Yes! Broad, clean, incisive – Bravo!
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot
Near Abbaye de Morgeot – towards the bottom.
Not a powerful nose but it’s clean, pure and slightly floral. Again, lovely mouth-filling shape – there’s volume here.
2021 Meursault St.Jean
A mix of vineyards – Crotots, Vireuils and the villages part of Meix sous Château – just over a gram of sugar than never finished.
More direct, a complexity of citrus. Large-scale – so juicy – zesty finishing energy. Zingy fun!
2021 Meursault Clos de Magny
From behind the cuverie of Roulot
Another fine yellow citrus nose – airy and attractive. More zest again – some citrus bitters – and again so juicy. Even more zesty in the finish with a small touch of tannin shaping the fading flavours…
2021 Meursault Narvaux
Less volume of aroma but also bubbling with inviting energy. Mouth-filling, no oak to see – a super lemon-infused mouth-watering finish. So good!
Hmm – a silky and more floral nose – lots of volume. Vibrant clarity – almost a fluidity – not always my favourite cru of Meursault but this is showing brilliantly – super wine…
2021 Meursault 1er Charmes
Mix of high and low parcels. Less frosted in the lower part – ‘but we still lost 60%’
Hmm – now that’s an engrossing nose. More generous, supple, beautifull silky – great texture. And so wide and long – that’s a great finish – super wine!
2021 Meursault 1er Poruzots
A breadth of aroma that’s more mineral. In the mouth definitely so – vibrant – just so mineral! There’s a little floral component to this too. Super wine, yet again.
2021 Meursault 1er Gouttes d’Or
A single 1-year-old barrel for this.
A present oak on the generous nose. Hmm – this is so vibrant and again, energetic – there’s generosity too. Plenty of oak that will fade over a couple of years or three.
2021 Meursault 1er Perrieres
Also a little oak – but less than the Goutte d’Or. Hmm – that’s got a wonderful combination of energetic vibration and mineral mouth-filling volume – love that! Oak is present but hardly vs the last – a finishing chalky texture…
From Ladoix, ‘I’m discovering it myself, I think it’s not bad! I think it has a similar quality to Perrières – it’s a good supplier.’
Here is another but more modest oak accent – but more important is the mineral vibration of Charlemagne. Width – precision, intensity. And wide too. Small waves of mouth-watering involving flavour – that’s a simply top Charlemagne…
Les rouges:
2021 Bourgogne Côte d’Or
Ooh – beautifully floral and pure fruit here. A nice modestly structural shape – intensity of fruit. The finish is also super – a lovely wine – wait 2-3 years.
2021 Meursault Vieilles-Vignes
From Malpoiriers and Dressoles again.
Wide, more complex, faintly saline – less overt purity but a little more depth. Fresh, direct, cool flavour – plenty of intensity. Finishing stricter with a hint of tannin.
2021 Pommard Vieilles-Vignes
From Les Riottes and near the ‘station’ in Pommard. Destem all, vibrating table plus triage table followed by ‘a little’ cold soak, delestage not pigeage for 4-5 days – really separating the juice from the solids for 5-6 hours – a more standard approach after.
Very fragrant – red fruits and plenty of violet aroma too. The last was direct and fresh – this is equally fresh but with such a width – again slightly structural but much more accommodation than the Meursault today.
2021 Volnay Cuvée Nathan
A rounder red fruit – again a little perfumed and certainly inviting. Mouth-filling – again a strict side to the tannin that frames the flavours. Like all these reds, keep back a little time but you will be rewarded.
2021 Volnay Cuvée Elegance
From near Mitans with some gravels here – Les Serpents
Very perfumed – I think a little of the stems but there are none. Also a hint of strictness but the least so far – the grain of the tannin just a little more visible. A peak of finishing flavour – still very modestly astringent – then very slowly fading. Lovely. Again, wait a couple of years…
The only red from here that I know – the vines are almost but not quite in Santenots – just 20-30 metres away. Vincent recounts that this was hardly sellable as a white in the 50s, so his grandfather changed the colour! ‘The vines suffer here, planted on the rock, hardly half a harvest usually.’
Fuller and deeper – lots of extra fruit here – almost textured. Ooh – very direct and very silky – full, complex and concentrated – Meursault 1ers are rarely great wines but this is simply an exceptional one – top!