Beyond the smoky, toasty, resinous top notes from its 50% new barrels, the Latour 2006 Meursault Gouttes d’Or offers lime and honey in a surprisingly generous, soft expression of this usually overtly mineral site. In the long, polished finish, savory, saline and stony notes emerge to give a sense of this place and the inherently complex potential of its wines. Louis-Fabrice Latour and oenologue Jean-Charles Thomas presented a 2006 collection that displayed the opulent richness that one would anticipate from such a ripe vintage, and from the Latour house style. Sometimes these wines want a bit for clarity, definition and distinctiveness – occasionally they are rather obviously marked by dairy flavors from their malolactic conversion – but the best of them have much to offer. Since I did not have opportunity to include in my issue 179 report notes on the Chablis bottlings of Simmonet-Febvre – a domaine Latour purchased in 2003 (and which also bottles some lovely sparkling wines) – I have made note of them here.Louis Latour has numerous importers throughout the U.S.

Fat and full-bodied as befits a Meursault, but tempered with green acidity, the rich fruit of this wine is laced with wood, the fullness a shield for the crisp white fruits and steeliness.——R.V.(10/1/2008)—— 91