2012 Meursault Desirees

Young vines. Dominique Lafon is toying with labelling it 'Meursault Santenots'. Lots of juice and charm. (JR)

Dominique is fairly sure he will bottle the 2012 Meursault les Desiree separately, this tiny 0.45-hectare parcel of infant vines planted in 2008 often blended with another cru. Cropped at 20 hectoliters per hectare, it has a crisp, citrus driven bouquet with good penetration. The palate is fresh and vibrant with citrus driven fruit, gaining weight and energy towards the spice-tinged finish. Yes - I think this is worth bottling separately. I am a simmering ball of irritation sitting in Dominique Lafon's office watching the second hand chipping away at precious time. Where is he? Our rendezvous was 8.30am. Now it's past nine and I have to be at Rossignol-Trapet, essentially the other side of the world, at 10.15am. I should bolt out of the door. But I don't. I don't because this is Domaine des Comtes Lafon. They have what I call a "special pass of forgiveness" that is totally at my discretion and totally unfair. But that's just the way it is. He's probably stopped for a cigarette. Dominique Lafon appears just after 9:03am, suitably remorseful and the raffish rascal has so much charm that I have to resist playfully punching him on the arm and saying: "It was my fault for demanding such an early start." And so we immediately troop down to the cellars to taste the 2012s, starting with the reds that were depleted by one-third due to the multifarious obstacles mentioned all over this report. Dominique divulged that like everywhere else, there were tardy malo-lactic fermentations and that he had not racked the wines. At time of writing he doubts that he will do so. As for the whites, they were depleted by between one-third and one-half, in particular affecting Les Perrieres and Montrachet. Whereas usually Dominique has around 350 barrels in his care, in 2012 that number is around 170. Dominique gave me the minutiae of the harvest, which commenced on 14 September with the young vines in Clos de la Baronne and finished on 23 September in Monthelie and Montrachet. (Compare this to 2011 that began on 24 August and 2013 that began on the 25 September, two days after the 2012 was finished.) How were the wines? We don't have time. Let's bash on with the notes Importer: Becky Wassermann Selections (Le Serbet); www.leserbet.com (see website for full list of distributors) and also through Berry Brothers & Rudd (UK)

(half of a normal crop was produced in 2012; from five-year-old vines; no new oak used): Bright yellow-green. Lemon, clove, mint and flowers on the pure, perfumed nose. Sexy and tactile on the palate, with musky floral lift to the tangerine and floral flavors. Finishes suave and persistent. Lovely potential here. Lafon hopes to bottle this as Desiree but may still blend this juice into his basic village wine.