“In unenlightened periods of warfare, before the age of half-track carriers and helicopters, when infantrymen had to march 20 miles a day with sixty pounds of equipment on their backs, I remember learning to suck pebbles on the trek in hot weather. Meursault has an underlying touch of that taste.” — H.W. Yoxall.
This quote exactly describes a profound wine, Meursault, and it is a wine that you should enjoy.
To be more specific, there are two types of drinkers who MUST try it: those who only drink red wines and those refuse to drink Chardonnay.
Why Meursault? Because Meursault is a white wine made from Chardonnay. But it is unlike any Chardonnay, or white wine, you have ever had. Meursault drinks like the place it is from rather than a grape or a winemaking process. It doesn’t taste like “Chardonnay”, it tastes like Meursault. It doesn’t taste like oak or vanilla or butter, it tastes like Meursault.
So what does Meursault taste like? Let’s explore Charles Buisson’s Meursault Vieilles Vignes as an example.
Geographically, Meursault is a slope of limestone covered with two inches of topsoil. In these infertile soils Buisson’s Chardonnay vines must dig deep to retrieve the water necessary for life. The deeper they go, the more mineral, stony, elemental flavors they are thought to bring up with the water. Buisson rightfully describes his wine as Vieilles Vignes, “Old Vines”, because some of his vines have now reached their century. The wine made from these vines takes on aromas of toasted hazelnuts, iron enriched water, a sensation of autolysis, and Yoxall’s lingering tug of wet stones sucked on a long march.
Meursault has a relatively cool, continental climate which forces winemakers to exploit the sun to the fullest extent possible. Vines are planted and trained towards the south-east, maximizing what warmth and solar power there is to be had. This combination results in a tension in the wine between the possibilities of ripe and rounded fruit aromas and the stinging acidity of a cool climate. In Buisson’s Meursault this tension is resolved into a silky, succulent sense of power. Power because the vines’ tendency to ripe fruit has been constrained, forcing it to build mass and depth rather than the flab of buttery fruit. Indeed, this wine’s power slowly uncoils on day one, two and three as you explore it from the bottle. If mass can be defined as a force directed towards the center then this is the character of fruit of Buisson’s Meursault – a coiling inward of strength.
These factors – soil, slope, climate, and vine – all combine to make Meursault what it is: a unique wine that is beyond Chardonnay, beyond the categories of red and white. Indeed, Charles Buisson could have named his wine “Chardonnay from France.” And for many people that would make it easier to understand. But that understanding would be false – Meursault is a wine like no other, and further, it is a wine that everyone should try.
2009 Domaine Charles Buisson
Meursault Vieilles Vignes
Release Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $33.99
Friday’s Wine Tasting: Tapas Wines!
Friday, April 20, 3-7:00 pm, $FREE – Open House Format
This Friday, and every Friday, Waterford Wine offers up a casual, open house wine tastings. Come in after work, stop by with friends, and enjoy the taste of some great wines!
This Friday, in addition to pouring our weekly special(s), we will be tasting a collection of wines to drink with Tapas. Tapas are a Spanish style of feasting via a series of small plates. Friday night we will pour a diverse collection of Spanish wines that pair well with everything from grilled sausage to calamari!
Wines to be tasted:
2008 Pontecilla Tempranillo $9.99
2010 Tridente Mencia $14.99
2009 Juan Gil Monstrell $14.99
Germain Gilabert Cava $15.99
& the weekly specials!
All orders must be secured with a name, credit card number, and phone number. All orders will be available at the time of purchase.
When the wine is ordered your credit card will be charged. The wine will be held in climate controlled conditions until you are ready to pick it up, free of charge. Offer is good while supplies last.
Ben Christiansen wrote this article and Tim Hansen edited it.
Love it or hate it, Pinotage is divisive. In a word, Pinotage SMELLS. 
