2007 Meursault Les Narvaux

Morey-Blanc’s 2007 Meursault Narvaux smells alluringly and intriguingly of narcissus, orange blossom, and lime zest. It offers a lovely combination of brightness and refreshment with subtly waxen texture. While buoyant, it nevertheless really grips in the finish, leaving an impressive stain and enervating impingement of citrus oils, salt, and chalk. Morey attributes some of the magic of top-notch Narvaux to its combination of high elevation with fine particulate superfice underlain by a seam of water-retentive clay, with the chalky mother rock still within reach of the vines’ roots. By contrast, the surface of Tesson sits literally on the chalk rocks. Pierre Morey bottled the 2007s under his negociant label Morey-Blanc in early Spring, a bit ahead of his estate wines in the expectation that the former will open-up sooner for early enjoyment. I did not taste all of Morey’s offerings under this label, and some of the less expensive bottlings that I did taste were slightly inharmonious. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661