Meursault lies between the villages of Volnay and Puligny-Montrachet and produces some of the world's greatest white wines. This has a wonderful creaminess on the nose and the palate is well-rounded, poised and elegant with a classic balance between richness and acidity and complex savoury character. This flavoursome wine is already delicious but will benefit from some more time in bottle.
Low vine density and extremely strict pruning practices (7 buds to a cane) to maintain low yields are employed at Vallet Frères. Traditional methods are also adopted in the vineyards - in the last 50 years only manure has been used on the mainly limestone soil and harvesting is by hand in order to select the best grapes. One of a handful of producers in the Côte d'Or who continue to use ultra-traditional winemaking techniques. Grapes are selected from vines of a minimum 15 years of age; after pressing the juice is decanted then fermented in open wooden casks using only natural yeasts and no temperature control. The white wines are left on their lees for an extended period and put into French oak barrels, where they mature for a minimum of two years with racking off two or three times a year (to gently remove natural deposits). They don't have a fancy bottling line here - usually a pipe is inserted into each barrel which is joined to four taps, and the wine flows by gravity straight from barrel into the bottles without any filtration and just a candle to check that it's clear.
Perfect with poussin, guinea fowl or lobster thermidor.