2019 Le Montrachet, Grand Cru, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Burgundy

0.32 ha;4.5 barrels made a relatively generous crop) at 30 hl/ha. Cask sample.

Manages to be both rich and savoury. Not remotely fat, but with massive intensity. Throbbing and jewel-like. Dominique must be thrilled by this.

Drink 2026 - 2042 

A cool and ripe mix is composed by an array of both white and yellow orchard fruit and a beautiful array of spice elements, all of which is trimmed in discreet wood influence. This is a big but not massive wine as the flavours are sculpted and intense while offering a highly beguiling texture on the powerful and muscular finish that is phenomenally long. The Perrières is stunningly good but this possesses another dimension. One of the wines of the vintage.

Drink 2036+

The 2019 Montrachet Grand Cru has a perfumed nose with a very slight reduction at play. This feels more Chassagne than Puligny in style, with just a very subtle smokiness and nuttiness, gaining intensity all the time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a honeyed texture, and just a faint suggestion of botrytis, though that lends this Montrachet complexity. There is a real peacock's tail on the finish and a persistent, sweet aftertaste. Superb.

Drink 2030 - 2060

Unwinding in the glass with notes of pear, citrus oil, mandarin orange, ripe peaches, freshly baked bread and clear honey, Lafon's 2019 Montrachet Grand Cru is full-bodied, elegantly muscular and layered, with a deep and prodigiously concentrated core, striking mid-palate amplitude and a long, lip-smacking finish. In comparing the triumvirate of 2017, 2018, and 2019, I can see this, the youngest of the three, taking first place a decade from now.

Dominique Lafon—joined by daughter Léa and nephew Pierre—began picking on September 5 and was very upbeat about the quality of the 2019 vintage, reporting yields in the region of 40 hectoliters per hectare and alcohol levels in the upper 13s. Both are more concentrated and more incisive in white, finer-boned, and more elegant in red. I'd give the nod to 2019 over 2018 in both colours at this address. And that is quite a compliment, as Lafon really excelled in 2018. In short, as Dominique hands the reins to the next generation, it's fair to say that the Domaine des Comtes Lafon is indeed in very fine shape.

4.5 barrels is an acceptable yield for Montrachet in a short vintage. Clear bright colour, this has a brilliant weight of fruit with a glowing exceptional extra quality from the ripeness of the vintage, which this vineyard can easily carry. There is not the slightest suggestion of undue heat here, just a gorgeous weight of embryonic fruit. It will be a while before the detail emerges.

Drink 2028 - 2038

Lafon's third-of-a-hectare parcel in the southeast corner of Montrachet on the Chassagne side faces south, and the wine produced is often voluptuously rich. The 2019, however, seemed to stand apart for the lovely lemony fruit of the initial attack that developed in time to something a bit more tropical. Marked still by a bit of oak spice that complements without overwhelming the nuanced fruit character. The texture is lush, almost to the point of decadence, but balance is retained thanks to a lively line of fresh acidity.

Drink 2024 - 2039