2013 Domaine des Comtés Lafon Montrachet Grand Cru

The first year of Diam at Lafon. This bottle was decanted before serving. I wonder if there are other production details apart from the new closure that changed the same year: it certainly marks a stylistic departure. Lots of matchstick reduction but also the pungent prickle of SO2. Enormous power behind. Grilled nuts, green apple, also an exotic rose-petal perfume you almost never find in burgundy. Extremely tight, with sharp acid offsetting the richness but in no way integrated yet. Still, a round, long stony finish hints at the huge potential here. (AH)

He thinks it’s slightly too reduced. Definitely ‘matchstick’ on the nose but there is richness underneath. Very different from Lafon’s normal Montrachet! (A product of the volume produced and capacity of barrels available.) Very firm and great density and matière. Lots to chew on, but definitely more reductive than usual for the moment. (JR)

(malo finished): Very reduced aromas of oatmeal and iodine. Hugely concentrated, rich and tactile, with hints of lemon, minerals, smoke and spices. Finishes musky, sweet and soil-inflected, with terrific mineral drive. There are just four and a half barrels of this juice in 2013--and only three in 2012.