Cote de Beaune Wines

wines

Though lower down on the map, this is above the fault line, so still classic. Clear pale lemon and lime, quite a complex bouquet with the white fruit rising up through the light citrus notes. Excellent concentration behind as the finish fattens out somewhat. Very promising. Tasted Jan 2021.Jasper Morris | 92-95 JM

The 2020 Meursault Les Tillets opens with notes of crisp green apple, freshly baked bread, white flowers and crushed mint. Medium-bodied, satiny and elegant, it’s lively and precise, with a pretty core of fruit and a mouthwatering finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RPThis too is quite firmly reduced and unreadable today. More interesting are the delicate but punchy flavors that evidence plenty of minerality on the vibrant, focused and beautifully well-balanced finale. Once again, more depth would be beneficial, but this wine has an excellent track record in that regard. Worth checking out.Burghound | 89-91 BH

From the upper part. More sensual perfume here despite the altitude. Fuller white fruit with salinity, tis sufficiently ripe but with a fresh edge. Quite nuanced at the back and with good persistence. Drink from 2025-2030.Jasper Morris | 90-92 JM

This delightful wine is among the liveliest of the vintage from village-level Meursault. They boast a bright lemon peel and nectarine fruit with hints of white flowers, smoke, and an undercurrent of salty minerality. The texture is clean and fresh, with the acidity carrying the wine to a lingering finish. The grapes are from the older vines in the lieu-dit Perchots, just north of En La Barre. The combination of old vines and used casks has produced a wine of great purity of fruit.Decanter Magazine | 93 DEC

A powerful and ripe Meursault with plenty of Mirabelle plums filling out the generous medium- to full-bodied palate. Attractive interplay of creaminess, fine tannins and freshness. Matured in small oak barrels, of which one third were new. Very limited production. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThe 2022 Meursault Santenots 1er Cru has a complex nose: yellow fruit, spice box, touches of fennel and crushed stone, all coming through with aeration. The palate is very well-balanced with good weight - a lovely creamy texture whilst retaining tension. More open than other cuvées and persistent in the mouth, this is a well-crafted and delicious Meursault.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMAll from Les Santenots Blanc. A lime and lemon colour, some charm to the nose along with the energy. Rather a pretty expression of fruit, then a little more flesh behind, well integrated with the oak. A supple rounded Meursault with still a sense of refinement. Drink from 2027-2033. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMThere is enough wood present to merit pointing out surrounding the ripe aromas of primarily pear compote and citrus confit. The sleek, intense and solidly voluminous flavors possess an interesting hint of sweetness on the lingering finish that could use a bit better depth. With that said, this is sufficiently tightly wound to repay 6 to as much as 10 years of cellaring which should prove beneficial.Burghound | 90 BH

The 2023 Meursault 1er Cru Charmes is the richest, broadest wine in the range, bursting with aromas of honeyed pears, white flowers, freshly baked bread and beeswax. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, it’s layered and textural, with a sweet core of fruit that’s balanced by good energy and grip.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

The 2023 Meursault 1er Cru Les Cras is pretty, wafting from the glass with notes of pear, confit lemon, orange zest and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, mineral and chalky, with a sweet core of fruit girdled by bright acids, it’s pure and precise.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPHere too there is a suggestion of the exotic to the aromas of white peach, tangerine, mineral reduction and once again, a hint of phenolic character. This medium weight flavors aren’t quite as dense though they are just a bit finer while offering fine length and an almost palpable sense of minerality on the balanced and youthfully austere finish that, interestingly enough given that this is a premier cru, isn’t quite as structured.Burghound | 91 BH

The 2023 Meursault Les Perrières 1er Cru has an attractive bouquet that seems to "expand" in the glass: apricot and peach skin meet a touch of melted candle wax, all nicely defined. The palate is medium-bodied with fine mineralité, fresh and focused, gaining weight towards the finish, which actually reminds me of the Perrières from Ballot-Millot. Excellent.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Slightly more floral on a white fruit base. Lovely stylish, really fine-boned, very persistent, fresh acidity, gentle and gracious. Drink from 2027-2032. Tasted Oct 2024.Jasper Morris | 91 JMThe 2023 Meursault Les Chevalières has a nicely detailed bouquet, with fine mineralité and a touch of sea spray coming through with time. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, a little more tension than the Le Limozin and a dash of white pepper toward the finish. Fine.Vinous Media | 90-92 VM

Aromas of ripe apples, chalk and stone with hints of crushed oyster shells, following through to a full body with a creamy texture and a long, crunchy finish. Subtle Meursault. Drink now.James Suckling | 94 JSEverything in its place, and that’s what this wine is. Perfectly ripe citrus and orchard fruits balanced with fresh honeysuckle create a refreshingly inviting nose. The palate is round and rich, vanilla coating the mouth before brisk acidity resets, introducing intense stony minerality trailing along the finish. Delicious and easy to enjoy now with tender pork or roasted chicken. Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEOf these three fine villages level bottlings from the Côte de Beaune, the 2023 Meursault is my favorite this year. The bouquet is bright and impressively complex this year, soaring from the glass in a mix of apple, pear, hazelnuts, fruit blossoms, chalky soil tones, vanillin oak and a beautiful topnote of orange zest. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, complex and really shows outstanding depth at the core, with excellent precision and balance, a superb core of fruit, lovely acids and a long, focused and very classy finish. The backend lift here is most impressive! (Drink between 2025-2050)John Gilman | 92 JGThe 2023 Meursault Village is the most structured of these three communal-level whites, exhibiting notes of pear, white flowers and toasted nuts, followed by a medium-bodied palate with good cut and a saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90+ RPFine lemon and lime from Drouhin’s stable source in Meursault, a little fuller and richer than the other two main villages, but with a fresh aspect to the generous fruit which works very well. Excellent aftertaste, Drink from 2028-2033. Tasted Nov 2024.Jasper Morris | 90-92 JMThe 2023 Meursault Village has a lovely nose, perhaps the best of the white Village Crus from Drouhin, with lovely yellow fruit and melted butter aromas. The latter comes through on the palate with a countervailing saltiness toward the finish. This is recommended.Vinous Media | 89-91 VMA very Meursault-like nose freely offers up its aromas of acacia blossom, pear, hazelnut and discreet spice wisps. The generous and fleshy medium-bodied flavors retain good vibrancy and detail before culminating a balanced, long and youthfully austere finale. Interestingly, this isn’t as suave as the Puligny or as complex as the Chassagne, but the overall sense of harmony is better than either plus it should age well. (Drink starting 2029)Burghound | 89-91

A notably more elegant nose of perfumed floral elements, especially acacia and gardenia, add breadth to the aromas of essence of pear and spice. I very much like the sense of underlying tension running through the solidly concentrated medium weight flavors that exude a subtle bead of minerality on the unusually powerful finish that displays excellent length. One to consider. (Drink starting 2030)Burghound | 92 BHThe 2023 Meursault Les Charmes 1er Cru presents aromas of popcorn, hazelnut and smoke, not quite as sophisticated as the Santenots but far off. The palate is taut and fresh, with a veneer of wood that will integrate by the time of bottling. Richer in style, though not exotic, it offers a persistent peppery finish. Give this three or four years in bottle.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMThis has excellent freshness for a site that’s normally all about generosity and weight, but also plenty of toast and smoke aromas and flavors. Some depth on the medium-bodied palate and a crisp finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 91 JSAn even mid lemon yellow. The bouquet suggests a robust wine to follow, though less fruit up front. At the moment the bouquet has a temporary suggestion of something slightly rubbery which will come out with fining. Plenty going on, good structure, just the detail to refine. Drink from 2029-2036. Tasted Oct 2024.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JM

The 2023 Meursault St. Christophe has a lively bouquet with light sea spray scents and a touch of struck flint. The palate is well balanced with a slightly honeyed opening. A little lower in acidity compared to the Puligny, it’s nonetheless harmonious with a judiciously spiced finish. This is one of de Montille’s "dark horses."Vinous Media | 90-92 VMFirm reduction dominates the nose today. More interesting are the delicious and punchy middle weight flavors that display evident minerality on the clean, nicely dry and youthfully austere finale that is distinctly lemony in character. Once again, I would advise at least a few years of cellaring first as this is sufficiently compact to need unwinding.Burghound | 89-91 BHPale lemon yellow, softer and rounder, but with lemon scented energy to finish. Plenty happening here. White fruit with a slight youthful bitterness, and a little nutty note. Drink from 2028-2032. Tasted Oct 2024.Jasper Morris | 89-91 JM

The 2024 Meursault Les Tillets is clean and precise on the nose, citrus lemon, lime and light lemon curd scents unfolding in the glass. The palate is well balanced, very cohesive with deftly integrated oak. I admire the nascent tension of this Les Tillets, with a strictness but paradoxical intensity that keeps you engaged. I suspect that this will age with class.Vinous Media | 92 VMOnce again there is a coolness to the airy, even wafting, nose of wet stone, citrus and exotic tea. The sleek, intense and beautifully delineated, even chiseled, flavors brim with minerality on the lilting, focused, balanced and lightly austere finale. Villages-level Meursault doesn’t get a lot better and this is pretty much textbook Tillets.Burghound | 92 BHI didn’t need to be told that this was Les Tillets: as soon as I put my nose in the glass the lime blossom emerged. Excellent fruit on the attack, which powers on through the middle towards a crisp finish in support of the undoubted flesh. This is just right, and very persistent. Drink from 2028-2034. Tasted Nov 2025.Jasper Morris | 90-92 JM

Mid lemon colour. A clear cut chiselled white fruit nose with fine intensity. An electric backbone and without the four-square element of some Poruzots. Extremely fine and here I can see the 2014 suggestion. Drink from 2029-2034. Tasted Oct 2025.Jasper Morris | 93-96 JMAn even more floral-suffused nose reflects notes of green tea, mineral reduction and a more subtle touch of wood. The tautly muscular larger-scaled flavors retain a similarly sleek mouthfeel while exuding a discreet stoniness on the powerful and impressively persistent finish. Poruzots always ages well and this well-made effort is going to need up to a decade of it to reach its peak.Burghound | 92 BH

A more elegant and equally cool nose freely offers up its essence of pear aromas cut with white peach, rose petal and a hint of anise. The refined, intense and bigger-bodied flavors possess a generous mouthfeel thanks to the abundance of sappy dry extract that also serves to buffer the firm acid spine shaping the superbly long finale. This is terrific and warmly recommended.Burghound | 94 BHMid yellow in colour. Richer in bouquet than Poruzots but not finer. A lemony tingle at the finish alongside robust oak. Some sensuality but less delicacy overall. Patisserie such as baba au rhum, or rum and raisin ice cream – a sign of Goutte d’Or for Henri. Drink from 2029-2034. Tasted Oct 2025.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JM