An open, inviting wine for the vintage, the 2010 Meursault Bouch?010 wraps around the palate with generous fruit. Licorice, honey and juicy pears are layered into the creamy, textured finish. The Boucheres looks like it will offer plenty of early appeal, yet also has enough going on to develop nicely for a handful of years, if not longer. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. Morey-Blanc is the negociant operation Pierre Morey originally started with his wife to compensate for the loss of fruit from parcels he had previously farmed under a share cropping agreement with Comtes Lafon. The wines are aged in Morey’s cellars in Puligny, along with the domaine wines. Importers: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808, The Source, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 621-6151, Wines Unlimited New, Orleans, LA; tel. (501) 897-0191, A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various other American importers.

The Morey-Blanc 2007 Meursault Les Boucheres combines musky, narcissus-like as well as linden floral, pistachio extract, and spice notes in the nose; is rich and oily in texture, brimming with citrus oils lightly-tinged by vanilla and resin from the barrel and with liquid floral perfume; and suffused with salt that gives it a finish of lip-smacking invigoration. This is an early-ripening site that generally exhibits fairly low acidity, and in this instance, its evolution in barrel was relatively precocious, too, says Morey. Exactly as he puts it, “the sense of minerality compensates for the relatively low acidity.” This excellent exemplar of a too little-known cru should be worth following for at least 6-8 years. Pierre Morey bottled the 2007s under his negociant label Morey-Blanc in early Spring, a bit ahead of his estate wines in the expectation that the former will open-up sooner for early enjoyment. I did not taste all of Morey’s offerings under this label, and some of the less expensive bottlings that I did taste were slightly inharmonious. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661