The old vines that inform Buisson-Charles’ 2006 Meursault Les Tesson (of which there are but five barrels, one new) behave very much like the classic Wente selection of Northern California, possessing a lot of tiny, “shot” berries (or “hens and chicks”), and with certain vines yielding distinctly Muscat-like fruit. The result is a consistently concentrated and often rather exotic wine. (Tesson was long treated as a cru.) Tangerine, orange, and brown spice aromas lead the way to a luscious, juicy, palate with striking clarity and length, though the corresponding Meursault Vieilles Vignes is in fact more complex, at least in its youth. This will probably be at its best at 5-7 years of age.
The estate of Michel Buisson – whose son-in-law Patrick Essa now takes the lead – crafts white Burgundies for the Riesling or Chenin-lover, offering clarity, refreshment, and minerality yet not stinting on richness or structure, and wines whose track record in the cellar is among the best of any Chardonnay-based wines in the world. Slow, vertical pressing, unhurried fermentation, largely non-new barrels passive lees contact (i.e. no stirring), and late (unfined, and usually lightly-filtered) bottling figure in the Buisson regimen. Although production is very small, some additional acreage will come on line (along with a completely renovated cellar) beginning in 2008. Predictably – and even though picking did not commence until September 22 – the 2006s here did not sacrifice clarity, refreshment, or mineral dimensions to the vintage’s ripeness or botrytis, and arrived at 13-13.25% alcohol. A portion of village Meursault tinged by rot and at 14% potential alcohol was sold off.
A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29; also imported by Scott Paul Wines, Carlton, OR; tel. (503) 852 7300
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