2021 Meursault, Genevrières, 1er Cru, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Burgundy

The 2021 Meursault Les Genevrières 1er Cru is reduced to a measly 450 bottles this year, a barrel and a half, due to this vineyard being one of the earliest ripening and then the frost impact. It has a beguiling, very pure and slightly candied bouquet with orange zest, mandarin and touches of crushed stone. The wood will need some time to assimilate. The palate is well-balanced, elegant and delicate, lemon zest and touches of lime on the effervescent finish. Wonderful, but so little!

Drink 2024 - 2042

From 40+-year-old vines, Lafon indicated that it would be bottled mostly in magnum.

A cool, pure and elegant array of exotic tea, lavender, lemon rind and green apple scents displays a wisp of star anise. The wonderfully refined and almost delicate yet exceptionally punchy medium-weight flavours coat the palate with sappy dry extract that also serves to buffer the moderately firm acid backbone on the focused, complex and beautifully persistent finish where a hint of bitter lemon arises. This pungently stony effort is strikingly good and absolutely worth your interest - note that my suggested initial drinking window is for 750 ml format.

Drink from 2031 onward

I found the 2021 Genevrières to be the biggest of the Meursault premiers crus in the Lafon cellar this year, with ripe apple and peach aromas and almost hints of cotton candy on the initial attack. The texture is lush and dense, with balanced acidity and impressive length. The wine is made from the old vine fruit in Lafon’s 0.55-hectare holding in Genevrières. The grapes are crushed lightly before pressing and fermented in cask with a modest proportion of new wood. This bottling is among my favourite wines from this Premier Cru.

Drink 2025 - 2045