Tasting notes from my November trip to Burgundy for the Hospices de Beaune Auction

I had a good trip to Beaune November 13th through the 19th.  I tasted at Dujac on Friday, on Saturday the 2025's at the Hospices de Beaune, then Marchand Tawse with Pascal Marchand.  Monday was Vosne-Romanée: Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, then with Maxime Cheurlin-Noellat at Domaine Georges Noellat. Tuesday I had a wonderful two hour tasting with Benjamin Leroux in Beaune then back to Morey Saint Denis to taste with Cécile Tremblay.  Wednesday I went to Domaine Michel Lafarge in Volnay, then Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Meursault.  Here are my notes:

Tasting the 2024's at Domaine Dujac Friday November 14th

I tasted at Domaine DUJAC with 19 other people.  Jeremy Seysses conducted the tasting in their new spacious tasting room around a large rectangular table.  Jeremy apologized for the acoustics but I thought they were fine.  I sat with Neil Martin of Vinous and Toby Morrhall of UK based The Wine Society which was established in 1874. 

This was Jeremy's 31st harvest. He talked about the difficulties of the 2024 harvest, the greatest of which was that his father Jacques Seysses, founder of the domaine, was gravely ill and hospitalized during the harvest. Emergency surgery after a misdiagnosis, a long stay in the hospital, multiple interruptions to visit Jacques all contributed to making a very difficult harvest even more so. His father has recovered and is doing much better now.  Jeremy said that it was hard not having his father there questioning his every decision, "Are you sure you don't want to destem that bunch?"  Jacques was not there to tell him to not start fermentation early, etc. In 2025 there will be no more negociant wine except for the Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Cras.  They will continue to buy those grapes.  There will be two new Domaine Dujac wines, the vineyards were purchased from Etienne de Montille.  Nuits Saint Georges Aux Saint Juliens and Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Aux Thorey.

Because of the rain he was expecting the 2024 vintage to be a disaster but they turned out fine, they are ripe and good and pure. It is a small vintage, some wines yielded only one and a half barrels.  He wishes he had more small fermentation tanks. His strategy was to start fermentation early, no cold soak and start fermentation as soon as possible. The alcohol levels are moderate, 12.3 to 12.7 percent.

Some vineyard sites were drenched and became mud pits. Botrytis came early.   There was an untended Bourgogne rouge vineyard they had considered buying but at the end of harvest it was forlorn, unpruned, full of standing water, a lake of mud.  They did not buy it.

The wines had been racked once and were still aging on their lees in tanks. All of the wines are 100% whole cluster fermented except for the Charmes Chambertin which was 20% destemmed. There are only 2 barrels of Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru les Gruenchers, obviously we did not taste that.  I loved all of wines from Morey Saint Denis.

1. Chambolle Musigny - from 3 vineyards, nice red fruit, ripe and rich.

2. Morey Saint Denis - beautiful bouquet, blue and black fruit, very rich, very open. Wow!

3. MSD 1er Cru - smells like gypsum & sheet rock & black & blue fruit. Captivating.

4. Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes - rich and ripe and complex.  Lovely, as always.

5. Charmes Chambertin - refined, tangy and bright, really pretty.

6. Clos de la Roche - Big, rich, powerful, real whole cluster feeling, great.  50+ year old vines.

7. Clos Saint Denis - Wow, pure red fruit and floral, lifted, remarkable.  A dancing wine.

8. Bonnes Mares - very aromatic, pure and bright, very lifted, more Chambolle and less Morey.  Now 50/50 red and white soils.

9. Vosne Romanee 1er Cru les Beaux Monts - a funny garlicky reduction. Jeremy jokes that sometimes he gets hints of basil which makes this their most Italian wine.

10. Echezeaux - black and red fruit, very fine, very complete, really together.

11. Vosne Romanee 1er Cru les Malconsorts - spice, power, red, black and blue fruits, rich and very long.

Saturday November 15th at 10 AM I went to taste at the Hospices de Beaune. 

I was there when the doors open, I like to go to this tasting early. I showed the security guards my invitation from Sotheby's auction house and entered the courtyard of the beautiful 13th century Hotel-Dieu.  It was pouring rain, typical weather for this time of the year.  As I was hanging up my coat I saw Christy Canterbury M.W. putting hers on and getting ready to leave.  Like many Masters of Wine, she is a wine writer she was able to come at 8:30 and beat the crowd.  She told me that she liked both the reds and the whites equally.

There were 33 red wines and 18 whites.  I tried the reds first.  The room was filling up fast.  I saw a few people I knew, Jim Finkel, a collector from New York, Charles Curtis M.W., Decanter's Burgundy correspondent, Anthony Hanson M.W. who lives in Pernand-Vergelesses.  I took very brief notes, I just wanted to taste quickly and get through all of the wines.  

First was a nice Monthelie Les Duresses, then a really pretty Pernand Vergelesses 1er Cru les Vergelesses. Then a trio of delicious Savigny les Beaune 1er Crus and a very nice Auxey Duresses 1er Cru les Duresses.  Then 10 Beaune 1er Crus.  All of the wines are named after the people who donated the vineyards to the Hospices de Beaune, for instance there is a Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Maurice Drouhin and a new wine this year, two barrels of Clos de Vougeot Cuvée Francois Faiveley. Needless to say that Faiveley bought both barrels and will do the elevage. All of the wines are in new oak barrels except for the Pouilly-Fuissé.  I loved many of the Beaune 1er Crus, especially the Beaune 1er Cru Greves, the Clos des Avaux and the Cuvée Nicolas Rolin which is made up of a blend of Cent Vignes, Teurons, Greves, Bressandes and Genets.  

Four Volnay 1er Crus, I would be happy with any of them especially the Cuvée Blondeau - Taillepieds, Champans, Ronceret and Mitans and the two Volnay-Santenots. Five Pommards, two 1er Crus including a stunning Pommard 1er Cru les Epenots Cuvée Dom Goblet.  Four red Corton Grand Crus, I really liked the Corton Bressandes Cuvée Charlotte Dumay but I liked all four. The new Clos de Vougeot from Faiveley was super. There was a great Echezeaux, a Clos de la Roche the always stunning Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine Collignon.

I liked the whites very much - a good Pouilly-Fuissé I would like to try next year, a Saint Romain which will probably be the world's most expensive Saint Romain, a very nice Chablis 1er Cru Cote de Léchet, a Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches that I wish I could buy, two Meursault villages and five Meursault 1er Crus.  I loved all of the Meursaults, especially the Meursault Genevriéres Cuvée Philippe le Bon and the Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes Cuvée Albert Grivault. The Corton Blanc Cuvée Docteur Peste was smelly like old dirty socks but good, the Corton-Vergennes Cuvée Paul Chanson was a "wow" wine.  I liked both of the Corton Charlemagnes.  The final wine of the tasting was the Batard-Montrachet Cuvée Dames de Flandres.  These two barrels sold for 400,000 euros per barrel, a new record.  Ben Leroux told me that he would sell me a barrel of his Batard-Montrachet for the same price.

Every year the Hospices de Beaune tastings offer a chance to preview the new Burgundy vintage on the Cote d'Or, with a definite focus on the Cote de Beaune. There is only one chablis presented.  2025 appears to be one of those rare vintages with equally good red and white wines, but in small quantities.  It was another difficult vintage that required a lot of sorting.  The whites are superb with good acidity and alcohol around 12.5.  Reds are more variable but many great wines were made, just not a lot. 

I left the Hotel Dieu, picked up a couple of sandwiches, met my friend Nicolas Mestre and set off for Nuits Saint Georges.  

Tasting with Pascal Marchand, Nicolas Mestre and Lorenzo from Tuscany.  Lorenzo worked harvest at Pacalet with Nicolas.  Was a sommelier in Italy.  Worked at Didier Dagueneau, Foreau and Doisy-Daene.  Dagueneau had some riesling and Sauvignon Rose in their selection massale of Sauvignon Blanc.  At Foreau they told him that the vintage dictates the styles of Vouvray you can make.  He wrote a paper on botrytisized wines.  Very thoughtful fellow and a great taster.

We tasted in Pascal's office on the ground floor.  All of the wines ahd been drawn from barrel the day before and put in bottles.  Again there was no tasting from cask with a wine thief in the very cold cellars which often takes several hours with Pascal.  This is much easier and more comfortable.  We tasted the reds first, the Burgundy tradition.

Coteaux Bourguignon 20% gamay 80% Pinot Noir
Gamay from Hautes Cotes de Nuits above Nuits Saint Georges, Pinot Noir vinified without sulfur - no carbonic maceration.  Vinified in open top vats, all in barrel.  Lots of juicy fruit, very open & forward.

 

Not a lot of barrels of 2024 at Louis-Michel's

I tasted with the Count of Vosne-Romanée Louis-Michel Liger-Belair at 11:00, then had lunch at La Cuverie, Louis-Michel's wine bar/cafe/food shop.  Drank Domaine de Marey Liger-Belair aligoté with escargots and a pasta with a poached egg and a glass of his Bourgogne rouge. Louis-Michel's philosophy is reflected in how his business is run.  All of the products are organic or biodynamic, the rainwater is recycled to provide the water for the bathrooms, all of the lights are operated with motion sensors.  It's all environmentally sensitive. The list of wines for sale is extensive and every grower in Vosne-Romanée is represented.  I killed a few hours there chatting with three Taiwanese who tasted with me at L-M's.  A young woman who lives in Rennes and works as an exporter and two young men who have a retail store in Taipei.  Then I walked to 1 Rue de Chaumes.

Tasting at Domaine Georges Noellat on Monday November 17th 2025, I tasted with Max's assistant, Maxime was terribly jet lagged having just returned from Los Angeles.  I saw his two beautiful Bernese Mountain. dogs, Lafite and Tarragone. Because of the rain yields were very low. Lots of fruit went into cuvees because there was so little.  For instance the 60 kilos of Echezeaux fruit went into the Vosne Romanée 1er Cru les Beaumonts.

2024 Cote de Nuits Villages - Delicious beautiful red fruits, good to drink now.

Gevrey Chambertin en Champs - negociant - tannic, astringent, powerful, juicy, mineral, good acidity, good balance.

Beaune Tuvilans - Really nice, I like this - mure, blueberry & blackberry, very forward, very pretty.

Beaune Clos de la Mignotte - More red fruits, bigger, tannin and astringence.  Will age very well.

Vosne Romanée villages - black and red fruit, very pretty, very open, a user-friendly wine.

Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers - beautiful fruit, mostly red fruits, spicy, aromatic, great balance.

Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru - a blend of Noirots & Gruenchers - Powerful and rich, red fruits, tannic and astringent - this will age well. 

Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru les Monts Luisants - a gigantic 3 hectare parcel! Black fruit as fitting for Morey Saint Denis, rich and powerful, very complete and round.  Lovely.

Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges - Wow.  Very powerful and rich and astringent.

Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots - So rich and fruity and velvety, a lovely wine and very Vosne in profile.  Mostly black and blue fruit.

Vosne Romanée 1er Cru les Chaumes - black fruit, powerful and astringent.

Vosne Romanée 1er Cru les Petits Monts - lots of freshness and great acidity, pure raspberry fruit, great balance.

Vosne Romanée 1er Cru les Beaumonts - 9 barrels in 2023, 3 barrels in 2024.Powerful and rich, tannic with big red fruit and a very long finish.  This had the addition of the 60 kilos of Echezeaux fruit.

Mazoyeres-Chambertin - they bought this parcel from Pascal Marchand, partially funded by the sale of their Meursault vineyards.  Raspberry fruit and very complex, lots of power and a very long finish. Open.  Ready for business.  Wow.  This reminds me of Musigny, this is a stunning wine.

Grands Echezeaux - rich raspberry fruit, lots of astringency and a very long finish.  But closed up today, not giving.

The sun had just gone below the hill on Monday November 17th. The next morning I saw the Mont Blanc clear as can be.  The following day it rained, of course, whenever you see the Mont Blanc in Beaune you will have precipitation the next day.  It snowed in Bouilland.

Tasting at Maison Benjamin Leroux on Tuesday November 18th 2025

Walked over to Ben's and tasted with collector Frank Davis of Toronto, an old friend of Pascal Marchand's. We tasted a few wines and Frank told us about a fascinating wine they make at Jadot that is not for sale, it's strictly for in-house use.  Roch de Demoiselle Vin de France.  It's a tiny strip in Chevalier Montrachet that had never been planted.  Well - now it is.  100% chardonnay.  Of course Jadot bottled some magnums for Mr. Davis.  He likes magnums.  If you visit Jadot and ask Frédéric Barnier nicely maybe he will open some for you. Then Frank's driver finally showed up all stressed out and took Frank to his lunch date with Jacques Lardiere.

Most of my tastings in 2024 were in comfortable rooms rather than in cramped cellars.  There is so little wine that everyone was preparing samples and putting them in bottles rather than tasting from barrel with a wine thief.  Ben had a big lineup as you can see.

Ben Leroux says that the 2024 whites are "bright and crispy".  We started with a 2024 Saint Romain, it was lovely and pure with bracing, refreshing acidity.  Saint Romain is a very cold village at a high elevation.  The grapes used to struggle to ripen but now, with global warming, Saint-Romain is a good place to grow year after year.

Ben goes on to say that Meursault is the sweet spot in 2024.  

His village Meursault comes from several vineyards; Les Criots, Au Moulin Landin, Les Millerands, Clos de Village and the Bois de Blagny.  The wine is so pretty, pears, apples, white flowers and great acidity, real power.

Meursault Vireuils is always very fine - white flowers, very floral, lilac, apples, pears, very layered and mineral.  This will age well.  He bought 0.86 hectares here.

Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru La Piece Sous le Bois - Ben is obsessed with Blagny.  He says it used to be called Blagny-Montrachet and found some old Matrot labels that prove it.  Dominique Lafon says, "No, it was always Meursault."  Ben gave him a t-shirt that says "Blagny-Montrachet".  Dominique has worn the shirt but I do not have a photo.  

The 2024 Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru La Piece Sous le Bois - wow - such sweet fruit!  Pear, citrus, minerals, stony, great length and power and such refinement.  Remarkable wine.  Ben remarks "Blagny Forever".

Meursault 1er Cru Genevrieres Dessus - So many flowers, an entire garden of everything, carnations and roses and gardenias and passion fruit.  Detailed and mineral and the longest finish.  

Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Tete du Clos - again, remarkably sweet fruit plus that unmistakeable Chassagne Montrachet stink of the soil that always reminds me of Citeaux cheese.  Real power and complexity, opulence and minerality.

Batard Montrachet - Remarkable spice and power and a finish that seemed to last forever.  A barrel of 2025 Batard Montrachet sold for 400,000 euros at the Hospices de Beaune auction.  Ben joked that he could sell me a barrel of Batard for 400,00 euros.

The red grapes in 2024 were soggy.  So much rain, so much mildew, every kind of mildew.  Lots of sorting in the vineyard and on the sorting table.  He sprayed biodynamic treatments 15 times and the rain kept washing them off.  Twice as much rain as 2023 and twice as many treatments.

Savigny les Beaune 1er Cru Les Hauts Jarrons - Black fruit, spice, mineral, good mouthweight.  Solid wine, good quality.

Blagny 1er Cru La Piece Sous le Bois - Black fruits, cherries, raspberries, sous-bois, complex, mineral. Really good, rich and pure with a long long finish.

Volnay 1er Cru Les Mitans - 20% whole cluster.  Lovely sweet fruit, dark fruit, plums, good mouthweight, crisp crunchy fruit, croquant.

Volnay 1er Cru Les Mitans - Black fruit and lots of structure, a real foundation. Power, tannin, acidity, astringence.  Ben says that this is a strong vineyard.  I understand, I get it.

Gevrey Chambertin - Includes the 1er Cru Champeaux and all of the Charmes Chambertin.  It's another super-cuvee.  Dark fruits, power, tannin, astringency, very nice, very complete.  I hope I get to buy some of this.

Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru les Cazetiers - Very fine, red and black fruit, sous bois, freshly turned soil, mineral.  Will age well.

Vosne Romanee - 5 barrels total.  All of the 1er Cru Malconsorts was added.  Yet another super cuvee.  The grapes were picked berry by berry, essentially a "pedicelles" cuvee.  This is amazing.  More black fruits, spice and remarkable complexity.  Hope we can buy some.

Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Aux Boudots - Only 250 liters produced.  Dark brooding black fruit and spice.  Very Vosne and very rich.

2 barrels of Echezeaux - Lots of floral aromas, and spice and incense and black fruit and mouthweight and length. 

I had lunch and then drove to see Cécile Tremblay in Morey Saint Denis with David Russell and Eric Smith of Woodland Hills Wine Company.  We started the tasting with her charming assistant Elodie while Cécile was touring the vineyards with Peter Weygandt, her US importer since 2003.  Jacky Truchot suggested that he go visit Cécile.  2024 will be the 20th vintage of her wine that I have sold.  She is my favorite vigneronne. When I first tasted with her she was single, now her children are 11 and 13 years old. 

Cécile explained that she sprayed biodynamic treatments 17 times.  She said that 2024 was a very difficult vintage.  During flowering she had "3 generations of mildew" in 2024.  She has always used the same cooper, Chassin.  In 2024 she had some extra small barrels made.  She has done some experiments of aging tiny lots 1/3 in ceramic and 2/3 in barrel. 2024 was very challenging.  Her Chambolle Musigny aux Echanges is a low sulphur cuvee that she bottles only in magnums.  In 2024 it may get blended with the village Chambolle-Musigny. Because of the tiny yields, many growers did not make as many wines as they normally do and added 1er Cru grapes into their village level wines and Grand Cru into 1er Cru.  There is a new wine, a Griotte Chambertin from Domaine des Chezeaux.  She made half a barrel in 2024.  We did not taste that but she promised. that I could taste the 2025 when I return next year.

The 2024's were in decanters.  At many of my tastings of 2024's, the wines had been drawn from the barrels in advance.  I tested from barrel at Liger-Belair, Georges Noellat, Michel Lafarge and Comtes Lafon.

2024 Bourgogne Cote d'Or - lovely - earth, ripe red & black fruits, medium bodied, long finish, delicious and fine.  Picked in mid September from vines below Vosne Romanee and Chambolle Musigny. This could easily age for 10+ years.

2024 Morey Saint Denis Tres Girard - This comes from vines right outside her home.  Beautiful black fruit, very Morey.  Medium bodied, very sleek, delicious with a long finish. 

2024 Chambolle Musigny les Cabottes - Red fruits, very bright, medium bodied with a little tannin evident on the finish, some astringency.

2024 Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru les Feusselottes - Beautiful aromatics, power and tannin and richness.  Medium bodied with some refreshing bitterness on the finish.

2024 Vosne Romanee 1er Cru les Beaumonts - Red and black and blue fruit, perfume, spice, powerful, minerality, rich and again a touch of bitterness on the finish.  

Cecile then offered us two older wines from bottle.

2023 Echezeaux les Beaux Monts Bas. - Spice, blue fruit, big bodied, fuller and richer.  Gorgeous.  The label will read "Echezeaux" with the letter B.B. at the bottom of the label.  This was part of the parcel of Vosne Romanee les Beaux Monts that was returned to her from an expired sharecrop agreement.  She discovered that this 0.4 hectares was actually Echezeaux les Beaux Monts Bas. 

2020 Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru les Feusselottes - Red fruit, raspberries, spice, weight in the mouth and a very long finish.  Lovely wine.

On Wednesday November 19th I tasted at Domaine Michel Lafarge and Domaine des Comtes Lafon.  It was a grey day in Volnay and looked like it was going to rain.  I went to Lafarge with Ilias Anagnostaras from Becky Wasserman & Co.  Ilias is a brilliant fellow, he is attempting to earn his M.W. (Master of Wine).  It's an arduous task.  We arrived at Domaine Michel Lafarge and were greeted the entire family, Frédéric, Chantal and Eleonore, Clothilde and Maxime-Henri.  I first tasted at Lafarge in the 1980's and I have come to know the family very well.

We descended in the old slow elevator to the very cold and moldy barrel cellar where construction began in the 1200's.  It's one of the oldest cellars in Burgundy and dates to the days of the Dukes of Burgundy.  The vineyard outside the cellar's back door is the Clos du Chateau des Ducs. The cellar is redolent of mold and wine and yeasts and a million aromas, this is a domaine very in tune with their microorganisms, it is an indescribably complex set of smells.  A remarkable place. 

Frédéric started the tasting with the 2024 Aligoté raisins dorés.  Super wine, citrus, lemon, dense and saline on the finish. It's one of the best Aligotés made and a bargain at that.  Then 2024 Meursault - super clean, floral, peach, lemon, very mineral and stony, lots of weight in the mouth and very good balance.  There will not be a Meursault Vendange Sélectionées this year, all the fruit went into the one cuvee.   Then 2024 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Aigrots - wow!  Super fine, pear, floral, full, middle weight and a very long finish.  Outstanding wine.

Then 2024 Passetoutgrain l'Exception, 50% gamay and 50% pinot noir from 95 year old vines.  Very fine wine in 2024, very peppery red fruit, fresh earth scents, forest floor,. good long finish.  Like the Aligoté this is one of the remarkable bargains of Burgundy.  Lafarge is a certified biodynamic estate. Frédéric explains that he sprayed biodynamic treatments 11 times during the 2024 growing season. Michel Lafarge once said that he started farming organically because he was "in his garden everyday and he didn't want to breathe poison."  He lived to 91.  These pinot noir and gamay vines were planted by his grandfather when Michel was born in 1928.

2024 Bourgogne Pinot Noir - pure and lovely red fruit, very crunchy, croquant. Another bargain Burgundy that can age for decades.  All of the Lafarge wines can age for a very long time.

2024 Volnay - there will be only one 2024 Volnay, again there is no Vendange Sélectionées this year.  Very nice, ripe crunchy Pinot Noir, tangy, crisp, bright with great balance.

2024 Beaune 1er Cru. Clos des Aigrots - this wine was racked one month ago and was very different from the previous wines, more open and readier to drink.  It had tangy red fruit like persimmons, really tasty.  He says that 2024 is like an open book, the wines are easy to understand.  I get it.

2024 Beaune 1er Cru Greves - 103 year old vines, the oldest in the domaine.  25 hectoliters per hectare in a normal year, this year only 15 hectoliters. This is rich and full with good mouthweight and a very long finish, it's a powerful wine.

2024 Volnay 1er Cru les Pitures - beautiful fruit, very showy, very open.  He explains that the grapes were destemmed by hand, grape by grape.  Lots of work is done by hand at Lafarge.

2024 Volnay 1er Cru les Mitans - Wow - also very open, beautiful fruit plus lots of structure.  It's a very transparent vintage, you can see and feel the terroir in each cuvee.

2024 Volnay 1er Cru les Caillerets - One barrel instead of 4 in a normal year - tangy, beautiful grapy fruit, very red fruit with lots of minerality. Some of the vines are very young. I hope we get to buy some of this rare wine.

2024 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chenes - tangy red fruit, very powerful and structured, sous bois, mineral, very fine.  I think that often this is ther best wine, it is certainly the strongest and most powerful wine at the domaine. 

2024 Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Chateau des Ducs - very nice, red fruits, medium bodied, great balance, softer than the Clos des Chenes.

Then for the first time I tasted the Lafarge-Vial wines after the Volnays.  Son Maxime-Henri Lafarge splits his time between Volnay and Beaujolais where he now oversees the production at Lafarge-Vial.  The wines are very different now then they were when Frédéric started the project.  The first wines were vinified just like Lafarge Volnays and they were hard or dur in French. The 2016 Fleuries needed nine years in the cellar to soften.  Maxime-Henri was a stagiare at the fabulous biodynamic Serol estate in the Loire and he has changed the winemaking style at Lafarge-Vial accordingly.  The wines are strikingly different than his father's early Beaujolais wines.

2024 Lafarge-Vial Chiroubles - this is peppery and has dark fruit like plums, very nice and open.

2024 Lafarge-Vial Fleurie Bel Air - stinky and grapy and tannic - powerful.  Maxime-Henri explains that all of the wines were made from 100% destemmed grapes with no carbonic maceration. 

2024 Lafarge-Vial Cote de Brouilly - also stinky but not sour - most of these flavors and smells will blow off, these will age well and change a lot.  This is grown in soils of granite and quartz.

2024 Fleurie Clos Vernay - This is next to Moulin a Vent and the soil is sandy granite that has degraded with time. It is protected by the forest surrounding it.  Maxime-Henri says it is a peaceful place, a happy vineyard.  Red fruit and earth, very good balance of fruit and acidity.  Crisp.

2024 Fleurie Joie de Palais -  Darker fruit, more power and complexity.  This needs time.  Maxime-Henri explains that this is a steep old-vine vineyard that must be worked by hand and by the horse they share with Olivier Merlin.

Lots of mold in Lafarge's cellar.

After Lafarge Ilias drove me to Meursault and dropped me off at Domaine des Comtes Lafon at Meursault Clos de la Barre.  I tasted with Dominique Lafon's nephew Pierre Lafon.

We started with 2024 Monthelie 1er Cru Les Duresses.  Red and black fruit, earth, very pure.  Nice.  

2024 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chenes - Pierre explains that this vineyard is next to Lafarges on the lower part where there is less topsoil.  Red fruit, spice, complexity, very elegant and not as powerful as Lafarge's.

2024 Volnay 1er Cru Champans - Red fruit, spicy, earthy, good rich, nice mouthweight, structure and fine tannins.

2024 Meursault  Villages - very floral, white flowers, fruits, medium bodied - holy cow this is good - there are 22 barrels of this wine which includes 2 barrels of young vine Meursault 1er Cru Perrieres.  I comment that there seem to be a lot of barrels here.  He says that 2024 is not really a bad vintage for white wines but that some people want to give the impression that it is a small vintage for both red and white.

2024 Puligny Montrachet - very nice, floral, steely, medium mouthweight.

2024 Meursault Clos de la Barre - Their biggest cuvee, the soil and the extremely varied massale selection combine to create remarkable complexity in this wine.  Citrus and apples and power and complex - this is always a favorite of mine and the bigget bang for your buck in the Comtes Lafon line up.  Super duper wine in 2024.

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Boucheres - very floral, scent like lilacs - this is great, stunning.

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Goutte d'Or - this is very floral and round and easy to like, very forward.

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Porusots - This was picked last, it is very mineral and powerful.

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Genevrieres - finesse and power and minerality - another stunning wine.

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Charmes - A bigger wine, very rich and full.  

2024 Meursault 1er Cru Perrieres - wow!  Power and minerality and lots of weight.

2024 Montrachet - 3 barrels this year.  A normal vintage there would be 5 or 6 barrels, in a great vintage maybe 6 or 7 barrels.  Lots of white fruit and flowers, lots of weight in the mouth, long long long finish.  Needless to say, I didn't spit this out. 

All of the Meursaults were outstanding.  Ben Leroux is certainly right is saying that Meursault is the sweet spot in 2024.  

Meursault Clos de la Barre vineyard