2006 Roulot Meursault- Clos du Haut Tesson

Ripe yellow plum, orange, and peach allied to notes of crushed stone and pungent, resinous herbs on a lushly textured, creamy, yet refreshing palate make Roulot’s monopole 2006 Meursault Tesson Clos de Mon Plaisir slightly less rarified and more typical of its appellation and vintage than other wines in this collection. With a combination of amplitude, grip, mineral presence, and vivacity, the finish here is very impressive. And like most of its stable mates, this did not even reach 13% alcohol. It should evolve deliciously for 7-9 years at least. The rich, nutty, spicy, low-toned 2005 is even more impressive. Actor-vigneron Jean-Marc Roulot bottles 16 different wines (all but three of them white) from his roughly 25 acres of vines. A partisan of clarity, finesse, and mineral expression, he began picking in haste four days before the ban de vendange. Roulot professes a preference for the style of 2004 (“It has an energy I adore,” he says) or 2005. Yet an excellent case can be made – and I think these wines eloquently make it – for the felicitous marriage of 2006 vintage richness and generosity with Roulot’s brand of restraint and his desire to bring out the details and fine points of differentiation between sites. And Roulot is surely the unchallenged master when it comes to unlocking the potential in a wide array of non-premier cru Meursault vineyards (albeit at premier cru prices). The best of these wines – as my notes below testify – are quite unlike others from their vintage. Roulot uses a high percentage of larger barrels, and racks his wines into tank for an extended period, which is the condition in which I last tasted them. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524