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  • Country ranking ?

    1 413
  • Producer ranking ?

    49
  • Decanting time

    1h30min
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Duck with Raspberries

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The Story

The hard Comblanchian limestone which disappears deep underground around Nuits-Saint-Georges reappears here where, as one moves southward, red wines give way to whites. Nowhere in the Côte de Beaune does the Chardonnay grape do better than it does here. Along the village streets are a succession of little houses belonging to the vineyard workers, mixed with more imposing dwellings. The stone-work on the 53 metre-high church tower looks like it could be the work of fairies. The excellent soils were planted with vines by the monks of Cîteaux as early as 1098. A small amount of red wine is produced here, though white definitely dominates. Meursault's appellation of origin status dates from 1937.

The best soils are found at heights of 260-270 metres with exposures along an arc between east and south. They consist of Jurassic marls and marlylimestones. There are some patches of magnesian limestone. The ancient callovien limestone and argovien marls shave the crus.

There are observable but minor differences between the wines of the different " Climats " (named plots). In most cases, Meursault is greeny-gold in colour or canary yellow, leaning towards bronze as it ages. Limpid and brilliant, it sometimes exhibits silvery highlights. Its bouquet has strong aromas of ripe grapes. The young wine is redolent of toasted almonds and hazelnuts in a floral (mayflower, elder, bracken, lime, verbena) and mineral (flint) setting. Butter, honey, and citrus fruits are also present. On the palate it is rich and fat with a cheerful and appealing taste of hazelnut. Unctuousness and freshness are in silky balance. Long and structured, it needs time to mature - this is a great white wine for laying down.

Its aromatic power and exceptional balance between fat and acidity make it an aristocrat among burgundies. Unsurprisingly, it has a natural affinity with noble and fine-textured fish or meat, which it can match without overpowering. It performs a similar feat with joints of veal or poultry in white sauce, which are rendered sublime by the wine's unctuous texture and long, distinguished acidity. Still better are grilled lobster, crawfish, or king prawns in sauce - dishes whose aromatic intensity and crisp texture match the lively and supple balance of the wine. Even blue cheeses and goose liver take to it immediately.
Serving temperature : 12 to 14 °C.

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Wine Information

Lafon Vintage 1994

The Weather
The winter of 1993/94 was very wet, filling up to a good level the water-table, which had become very low at the end of 1993. The start of vegetation was normal and there was no spring frost.

However, fruit set was average. De-budding went without a hitch, the weather fine but not too hot. Spring growth was rather slow.

Flowering was early, during cold weather without rain. All the early sectors had a great deal of millerandage. Harvesting we assessed would be around the 16th to 18th September, 100 days after the flower.

June, July and August were magnificent, plenty of heat and sunshine. A hailstorm damaged all parcels on 18th July but, especially les Meursault Premier Crus (roughly 20%), and lesVolnay Santenots (20%). Damage was not significant elsewhere. The lovely dry weather in July and August healed the wounds caused by the hail and the withered berries fell to the ground.

Sanitary conditions in August were perfect and we were not under much pressure from disease. September started off hot and sunny but rapidly deteriorated at the end of the first week, becoming cold with minor but recurrent spells of rain. Between 100 and 120 mm of rain fell, up to 18th september, which is quite considerable.

The Harvest
We began with the young vines in La Goutte d'Or where the attack had done most damage (15%), then Desirée (10 to 15%), a younger part of les Perrières, and the Village Meursault. The degrees looked promising: 12.9 for la Goutte d'Or, 12.5 for Désirée, 12.7 for les Perrières and 12.6 for les Meursault. Acidity was low and the pH high but not dramatically so.

On 20th September, we picked the Montrachet at 12.8°, les Charmes (12.5°) with good acidity and a slight attack of botrytis (about 10%). On the 21st we harvested les Perrières (12.°) and les Genevrières (12.5°) where acidity was average and there was little botrytis (

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Vintage 1994

1994 VINTAGE in Burgundy

Not at all bad. A useful vintage for early to mid-term drinking. An unprecedented change in the weather at the beginning of September with a very wet first week, meant that the harvest was difficult. The quality of the reds was uneven and at Maison Latour, to maintain our standards of high quality, Grand Crus and Premier Crus wines were declassified and blended into their respective village appellations. The wines are perfumed and charming with soft tannins that have a correct balance between acidity and alcohol. They offer quality drinking and are developing well. The quality of the whites is much higher in general, as the Chardonnay is more resistant to unfavourable weather conditions. The wines are stylish with good balance between acidity, body and fruit. The overall quality is good, with a few wines of exceptional quality amongst the Grands Crus.

By the end of August Burgundy was preparing for a vintage worthy to rival some of the greatest years- It had been an exceptionally warm summer. However an unprecedented change in the weather on the 31st of August followed by the coldest and wettest first two weeks of September in over twenty years (8 degrees below seasonal norm) meant that plans and hopes had to be revised.

A mild Spring led to an early 'bud burst (10th April) although vegetation growth was then temporarily halted by a cooler end to April. May temperatures were average and considerable work was undertaken in the vineyards to halt diseases such as mildew, oidium and grey rot, the first signs of which were evident due to the wet conditions. Spraying and good weather in June prevented serious damage. A slightly delayed flowering (between 10th and 20th of June) was followed by fine weather and high temperatures (30 °C. - 33 °C.) only broken by occasional rainstorms refreshing the vines and aiding the "veraison" which had slowed during the dry spell, fortunately, the potentially devastating effect of hail were largely avoided apart from some localized damage in the Côte de Beaune on the 18th of July. 

The hopes of a great vintage were dashed as 3Omm of rain fell on the 31st of August and another lOO mm between the 7th and the 18th of September bringing forward the "ban des vendanges" to the 16th and 21st of September for Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits respectively. 

In summary, some of the 1994 whites will be excellent. Even at this early stage they are perfumed and charming, the lack of maceration in the making of white wine making the rot irrelevant. The reds, particularly the Premier and Grand Crus are already showing considerable elegance and finesse. 

 

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Information

Origin

Beaune, Burgundy

Vintage Quality

Average

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

None

Glass time

1h

Other wines from this producer

Meursault

Meursault Charmes

Meursault Clos-de-la-barre

Meursault Desiree

Meursault Genevrières

Meursault les Gouttes d'Or

Meursault-Porusots 1er Cru

Monthélie les Duresses

Montrachet

Puligny-Montrachet Champ Gain

Volnay Clos des Chenes

Volnay Les Champans

Volnay Santenots

Volnay Santenots du Milieu

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