2002 Meursault Les Perrieres

Full medium yellow. Very ripe yellow fruits, musky acacia flower and minerals on the nose; smells rich! Quite full in the mouth, offering a silky texture to its flavors of ripe yellow fruits and nuts. A distinctly fat style in the context of this vintage, this big boy finishes slightly aggressive but not oxidative or dry. Lafon told me he picked this vintage of Perrières later than he would nowadays. "Today I'm looking for freshness and tension," he explained. "This is more of a classic old-style, round, buttery Comtes Lafon Meursault." In contrast to the 2003, this bottle struck me as less impressive than it had been in the early going, when it showed more minerality and zestier fruit. (13.5% alcohol; 41 h/h; 3.7 g/l acidity; 3.31 pH)

The 2002 Meursault Perrieres sports a deep straw color, perhaps just a bit deeper than I would like. It has an attractive bouquet of dried honey, beeswax, honeysuckle and damp straw with fine delineation. The palate is nicely balanced with a spicy opening and good weight, although it lacks a little finesse on the powerful, burly finish and I would have liked to have seen more Perrieres minerality. If I had bottles in my cellar, I would be inclined to drink them over the next decade. Tasted September 2013.

(just assembled in cuve and not yet fined) Tangy aromas of orange peel, wet stone and spices. Wonderfully intense and concentrated wine, with a penetrating flavor of crushed stones and minerals. Large-scaled, broad and solid, with great palate coverage and grand cru class. This has a completely different texture from the 2002s that preceded it in my tasting. Finishes with outstanding dusty minerality and great length.