2021 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Montrachet Grand Cru [D97][BH95-98][JM94-97][V94-96]

"WHITE WINE OF THE VINTAGE TOP QUALITY Among the greatest white wines of the vintage; this is often the case with Lafon Montrachet. However, this vintage is different: with less alcohol and body than it has had in recent years, it shows an almost perfect balance. To be sure, there are super-ripe aromas of apple and peach with notes of marzipan, honey, mineral and butter, but there is a freshness and spice here that transcend the norm. Lafon farms 0.32ha on the south-facing Chassagne side; 80% of the vines come from a very old massal selection, planted in 1953. Monumental wine." 

"A discreet application of wood sets off slightly riper yet still airy and cool beautifully layered aromas of white peach, apple, acacia blossom, exotic tea and a hint of crushed fennel. The detailed and amazingly well-focused broad-shouldered if not especially dense flavors display a more discreet minerality on the remarkably persistent and impeccably well-balanced finale where the only reproach is a barely perceptible hint of warmth. As one would reasonably expect, this is compact and very backward and a Montrachet that's going to need at least a decade to unwind and probably fully 15 years of keeping to reach its full majority. A candidate for wine of the vintage." 

"Bright pale lemon. There is a lush, even quite peachy nose. Salty at the front of the palate, then ripe fruit with peaches and grenadine, but the fruit does not become overweight or sloppy. Beautifully long and fine at the finish. Unusual more than classical, but still clearly delicious. Drink from 2030-2040. Tasted Oct 2022." 

"The 2021 Montrachet Grand Cru, reduced to two and a half barrels, has an intense mineral, wet limestone/petrichor nose that blossoms with aeration.  The palate is beautifully balanced with real concentration, a perfect line of acidity, multi-layered towards the finish with orange zest and apricot.  But the Perrieres has more mineralite and nervosite."