Domaine Hubert Bouzereau-Gruère & Filles, Meursault 2021

The father and daughter team of Anne-Marie and Hubert make this stunning and impressively complex white, which is one of the best versions we have had from this small, yet excellent and refined vintage.

It's full of minerality at first, but then opens up to notes of almond and fresh-baked bread, honey and citrus notes, all delivered on a medium-full-bodied palate. 

This is made from fruit that Hubert owns and manages as a family concern. All that this really means is that there is full control over the production and quality of the wine from one harvest to the next and, to be fair, though it's not always a guarantee that the quality is higher, it almost always is. How could you know? Because of the word "Domaine" - that's all!

Meursault marks the beginning of the Great White Burgundy trio of itself and the two Montrachets, Puligny and Chassagne. Grown on limestone and Jurassic Marl, the vines obtain amazing depth which bring about delicious flavours, colours and structure in the wines.

The village is a very interesting subzone for a number of reasons. It's a very picturesque place, but it's the soils that really mark it out. The limestone and marble from Comblanchien, at the end of the Cotes de Nuits, reappears in Meursault and because of its density it has allowed for cellars to be deeper than those of neighbouring villages. This has led to less rush to get wines to market as there was physical space to store them and this in turn has traditionally given a much richer style for Meursault wines as they always been able to age for longer.

This is still true today (though there is absolutely no rush at all to sell the wines of Puligny or Chassagne!) and Meursault's richness is served well by its perfect exposure to south and east, allowing for long ripening and seldom any extremes of temperatures. No Grand Crus in this village, but 19 Premier Crus and individually named 'Climats' that are, in essence, a halfway house between Village and 1er Cru, thus pushing the value of 1er Crus considerably upward...