Tasted in Meursault with Anne Morey, 23 October 2018.
Domaine Pierre Morey
13 Rue Pierre Mouchoux
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 21 03
www.morey-meursault.fr
Anne Morey on 2018:
“We were very happy, in fact we were enchanted – quality and quantity – it brings a certain confidence. Though it was certainly not an easy campaign as there was the pressure of maladies, which we came through in the end, and so many of storms. We avoided the hail – just a few grelons – but we trembled each time a storm announced itself. We started our harvest on the 1st September in 2018, just one day earlier than in 2017. The pulp of the whites must have been different in 2018, the skins were just as hard in 17 and 18, but I still don’t find the logic for the extra juice they delivered in 2018 – I expected the same as 2017…”
Anne Morey on 2017:
“As we can see, also an early vintage. We had excellent flowering conditions for the pinot, just a little less good for the chardonnay – maybe that’s why there was a little extra juice for the reds – but the grapes were fine. We did have a couple of alerts for frost, but in the end it was just a few buds that succumbed – we trembled then too! Cold and humid weather came after a precocious start so we came more into a normal time-line, then it was warm again. The reds are silky and elegant – smiling – they make me smile. We had beautiful grapes but also a lot of juice. The whites are hyper-regular; all the grapes were good, and the wines have tasted good since finishing the first fermentations without closed phases…
“The reds have elegance and finesse, they are very pinot, the terroir differences are marked if not striking, so still Burgundian too. Accessible and will be delicious for a the next 15-25 years without problem – it just depends on how you like your wine.”
The wines…
Anne Morey always provides the most erudite of my visits when tasting in Meursault – her beautiful prose traditionally being the strongest test of my cellar-French – her wines usually overwhelm my taste-buds as much as her words my brain – I was not to be disappointed this year – tasty reds, but such great whites!
The reds were racked about 2-3 weeks before I tasted – in fact not all malos are finished for some barrels of red, notably the Bourgogne. The reds to be bottled at the end of the year, perhaps into January. The whites are now racked and returned to older barrels for their second winter in the cellar…
Though not tasted here, multiple Morey-Blanc cuvees make a return in 2017 – “Négoce is never easy but there were some chances in 2017.”
2017 Bourgogne Rouge
All the domaine’s regionals come from the commune of Meursault, here from a little clos next to the domaine, and to the north towards Volnay.
A round, cushioned nose, cushioned with oak as well as fruit. Round in the mouth, full and invitingly flavoured, long, a line of fresh acidity. Ample and delicious wine.
2017 Monthelie
Multiple climats, there was no new oak in the last, this has a little over 25%
Despite the extra oak in elevage this wine is less obviously oaked and more lithe and silky versus the Bourgogne – aromatically and in the mouth too. Lovely volume in the mid and finishing flavours. Delicious.
2017 Monthelie 1er Cru
Only second time made separately as a small parcel so has usually gone into the villages.
More aromatic width and a little more saline. All destemmed. Fuller, some peppery width to a fine complexity, long, this is excellent.
2017 Volnay 1er Santenots
From Les Plures near the vines of the Hospices.
More floral if a little less aromatic impact today. More structured and open – a more architectural volume. Slowly melting flavour. Intense in the finish. Less easy than the Monthelie – a more three-dimensional wine – but this is my favourite.
2017 Morey-Blanc, Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Vercots
Not made since about 2005
More colour. A depth of aroma. Round, a nose touched with flowers too. Hmm, more depth to the texture, more concentrated, more tannic too – round, impressive but giving away its complexity only slowly, only meltingly. Super – a mini Corton, but of round concentration not line. Serious in most versions of that word…
The whites:
Bottled just before the harvest.
A nose that starts tight but opens more and more. Hmm, not a simple aligoté, texturally touched by tannin, complex, faintly spiced. A savoury wine, deliciously so – bravo!
All barrel, none new
Hmm, fine aromatic volume – hyper-inviting. Concentrated, beautifully textured, wide, complex – great Bourgogne. So long too.
2017 Meursault
Three parcels, Pellans, Chaumes de Narvaux and Forges
A modest floral accent to round and inviting aromas. More incisive and direct after the Bourgogne – there’s extra focus her. Melting flavour over the palate. Excellent again, beautiful texture and finishing flavour and length.
Near Gouttes d’Or but on flatter land
A more mineral – perhaps – nose with a light reduction. More open, pure, complex, layered wine, slowly mouth-watering – composure – beautifully composed wine – my new favourite – bravo.
2017 Meursault 1er Perrières
The last to finish its malo.
A more compact nose, hinting at a depth and some purity of expression. Hmm, this starts in rather shy form but slowly, slowly widens, unfurls, crystalline, fine textured, with fine, cushioned acidity. Hiding its wears today, but texturally and minerally impressive all the same. The finish is the most impressive part today – haunting and faintly floral. Potentially great…
The first domaine vintage.
A lovely volume and minerality to the nose. After the Perrières, there’s more drive, volume and energy. Clearly plenty of minerality. Hmm, this is a great debut – bravo – excellent. Juicy, mouth-watering but with really a concentration of finishing flavour – a bottle to be proud of!