Tasted in Meursault with Vincent Latour, 20 October 2020.

Domaine Vincent Latour
6 Rue du 8 Mai 1945
21190 Meursault
Tel: +33 3 80 21 22 49
www.domaine-vincentlatour.com
More reports for Domaine Vincent Latour.

Vincent on 2019:
“the 2019s have been in tank since the 2020 harvest. I’ve not much done the planning yet, but they will, most likely, be bottled in the January to March period. The year started chaotic with frost and then 3 cold weeks for flowering. Afterwards, the vines quickly caught up with the warm weather, but oïdium was always a worry. In the end, we had no rain, so there wasn’t much juice, but I haven’t seen degrees like that since I was doing a stage in 1989; 14° was common, usually the highest degrees were from the first harvested grapes. For us, it was the dryness in the season end that made the difference – it was a strong southern wind so we ended up with practically half a harvest. Given that 2017, 2018 and 2020 had okay volumes, it won’t be a problem. As for the reds, I’m very happy with them. There’s been no excuse for lack of ripeness or poor sanitary conditions in the last vintages. in 2019 I think their structure makes them more interesting than the 2018s…”

The wines…

Whilst there are some excellent wines here, I would say fewer than all my previous visits. That could be down to harvest timing or simply the timing of my visit during the wines’ elevage – as Vincent noted (below) the wines, in his opinion, needed fining…

Vincent is using DIAM Origine more and more, it’s the third year now. “I always though that I could taste the glue in the original DIAM. I did our first tests here in 2006 and these wines are still good – unlike many from that vintage with cork. Not all 1ers are sealed this way yet, but maybe with the Origine 30…”

“The wines need a fining as they are a little warm today – 13.5° to 15° – but they will come around:”

2019 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Next year this will wear a Bourgogne Còte d’Or label.
There’s a width of golden fruit. Big, rich, layered and concentrated wine.

2019 Bourgogne Côte d’Or Cuvée Hertiage
Two old vine plots, planted by Vincent’s grandfather in the 1950s at the limit of Meursault villages – Dressoles und Malpoirier. Foudre elevage plus new and older demi-muids, slightly less rendement than the first wine.
Extra freshness. Vibrant, faint gas, but a wine that abounds with energy. Intense in the middle and very tasty, this is excellent.

2019 St.Aubin Cuvée Thomas
A mix of domaine and purchases made at the time of the harvest.
Fresh, flighty yellow citrus aroma. Nice volume, a little floral mixed in the citrus. Thats a great finish too.

2019 Puligny-Montrachet
One parcel in Houlières
Fresh, but showing a base of barrel too. Vibrant, but ripely concentrated, there’s much to find in this wine but it needs to settle and organise itself – but has all the material you could wish for. Very long but with much barrel showing today.

2019 Meursault Clos de Magny
A more perfumed nose – very nice. Here is both energy and minerality. Lots happening here. Very good wine.

2019 Meursault St.Jean
A mix of vineyards – Crotots, Vireuils and the villages part of Meix sous Château
A fresher width of aroma. Mouth-filling, full of energy too. Sweetly mouthwatering flavour, almost too much… That could be an excellent wine.

2019 Meursault Les Pellans
Fresh, wide, composed and a little mineral – yes – a lovely nose. Some reduction here but the shape and the complexity is really fine, great finishing too!

2019 Meursault Narvaux
Fresh again, more composed, almost silky aromatics. Big, energetic and mineral, a little too much gas today but here’s a wine with fine potential

2019 Meursault Grand Charrons
Airy, fine perfume, thats a great invitation. Open, energetic, but the gas helps, lovely finishing, really delicious wine if just a little sweet…

2019 Meursault 1er Poruzots
A deep and interesting nose despite the ripe citrus accompaniment. A mix of direct and roundness – rather good Poruzots!

2019 Meursault 1er Charmes
Mix of high and low parcels, harvested at the same time and pressed separately. Part in foudres now.
Wide, ripe yellow citrus aroma. Lovely energy here complimented by the depth of flavour. Long and luscious, but never heavy. That’s an excellent Charmes.

2019 Meursault 1er Gouttes d’Or
All 600 l barrels for elevage.
A little broader impression to this golden fruit aroma – nice energy. Big, lovely energy again, layered, still a mineral base, vibrant finishing, long perhaps the alcohol shows here, but likely only because I know its 15%!

2019 Meursault 1er Perrieres
A narrower but also deeper nose, some barrel cream in the depth. Fresh, clarity of flavour, a growing intensity here. A fine Perrières.

2019 Corton-Charlemagne
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.’
Direct and mineral. Some weight to this nose. Wider, more vibrant than the Perrières, big finishing wine, there’s lots of flavour dimension here.

Les rouges:

2019 Meursault Vieilles-Vignes
From Malpoiriers and Dressoles again.
Bright, ripe red berries – attractive. Sweet, energetic, modest structure but with a depth of perfumed finishing fruit.

2019 Volnay Cuvée d’Attend
More colour here. Perfumed red fruit again, but darker fruit. Incisive, floral accented – lovely typicity in a fresh package. Excellent!

2018 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.
A deeper nose, tighter above, the fruit darker. Wide, sweet and finishing great. Less interesting to start but quite floral perfumed too. Very good!

2017 Meursault 1er Les Cras
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.’
Deeper, extra dimensions of darker fruit – this needs to open more. Bigger, more energy. Layers of fresh finishing flavour. Big wine, concentrated wine, ripe wine but not a hint volatile – I’d wait 10 years! Vincent; “Yes it’s big. I added a little wc to keep the freshness though.“