2010 Meursault Goutte d'Or
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Tasting notes
Usually we feature older wines in Cellar Favorites, but given the understandable trepidation consumers have around cellaring white Burgundy, I thought it would be interesting to see how a handful of highly touted white Burgundies are faring. To be honest, I had a selfish reason for wanting to taste these wines. I bought many of the Lafon 2010s (it is my daughter’s birth year), but I did so not really knowing when the wines would be ready to drink or how long they will last. I think I can at least offer a view on the first part of that question, but the second, happily, remains a question mark, in the best sense of the term. Vinous readers will recall that 2010 is unusual in the Côte de Beaune for its combination of both elevated ripeness and high acidity, two attributes one rarely finds in the same vintage. At Lafon, the 2010s were positively electric when I tasted them from barrel and then from bottle. Today, a few years later, the 2010 whites are every bit as impressive. Although projecting drinking windows for white Burgundy these days is fraught with peril, based on this showing all of the 2010s need at least a few more years in bottle with the possible exception of the Goutte d’Or. Energetic, precise and nuanced to the core, Lafon’s 2010 Meursault Goutte d’Or offers terrific energy to match its chiseled personality. The Goutte d’Or is the most weightless and lifted of these four wines, but it nevertheless possesses gorgeous energy and fabulous overall balance. This is an impressive showing from the 2010.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
(bottled the week before my visit): Pale bright yellow. Superripe aromas of pineapple, peach and apricot verge on exotic. Sweet mid-palate fruit is nicely balanced by juicy acidity, which gives lift and a light touch to the peach and pear flavors. Finishes long and perfumed, with noteworthy breed for this bottling. Lovely wine with good aging potential.
The 2010 Meursault Goutte d'Or fleshes out in the glass with serious richness. Yellow stone fruits, smoke and spices are all layered beautifully. The Goutte d'Or shows the richer, more intense side of village-level Meursault. This is an effortless, gracious wine laced with deep, rich layers of fruit and a totally inviting finish. I can't remember tasting a more polished and flat-out appealing young Goutte d'Or.
The 2010 Meursault Goutte d’Or fleshes out in the glass with serious richness. Yellow stone fruits, smoke and spices are all layered beautifully. The Goutte d’Or shows the richer, more intense side of village-level Meursault. This is an effortless, gracious wine laced with deep, rich layers of fruit and a totally inviting finish. I can’t remember tasting a more polished and flat-out appealing young Goutte d’Or. Anticipated maturity: 2014+. (Not yet released) Comtes Lafon’s 2010 whites are just as impressive from bottle as they were in barrel. Dominique Lafon told me the wines changed quite a bit and found their precision during fining. The 2010s at Comtes Lafon are tight and powerful, with plenty of underlying fruit and depth. The 2010s were bottled between March and early June 2012. A Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300