I’d hoped to take more photos and even make a few videos in the vineyards in Burgundy this Spring, but lockdown in France largely precluded that. I did manage to take a few photos of three contiguous parcels in Meursault Perrières, however, belonging to Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine Coche-Dury, and Darviot-Perrin, and I thought it might be interesting to share them.
First up is Domaine Coche-Dury. You can see that “rélevage” has been completed, and the vines are growing vigorously. Soils are regularly cultivated and there are the remains of leguminous cover crops (probably not visible in the photo). There are no missing or obviously ailing vines.
Meursault Perrières by WilliamGFKelley, on Flickr
To the right of Coche’s parcel (they have two in Perrières) is a parcel Domaine des Comtes Lafon acquired a decade ago (i.e. this is not one of the historic Lafon holdings, but they have been farming it for a while). Here, the soils are also worked (Lafon is organic and biodynamic for the Domaine wines). Quite a few missing vines were replanted during the winter, and the canopies are obviously less advanced than Coche’s. The parcel seems to be a bit less vigorous.
Meursault Perrières by WilliamGFKelley, on Flickr
Here, you can see the transition from Lafon (on the right) and Coche (on the left) which makes the differences more apparent.
Meursault Perrières by WilliamGFKelley, on Flickr
A much more obvious contrast, however, is between Coche’s holdings and those of their neighbor to the south, Darviot-Perrin, who sell their grapes these days I believe. You can see that these vines are almost stunted, with many yellow leaves, and the parcel is clearly very unhealthy by comparison with Coche-Dury and Lafon.
Meursault Perrières by WilliamGFKelley, on Flickr
This is just a snapshot at one moment in the growing season, and there’s only so many conclusions one can derive. But speaking generally I would say that, come harvest time, the differences between fruit from one parcel to another throughout Burgundy are just as flagrant as the differences you can see in these photographs. And when you’ve seen the grapes you are rarely wrong if you make inferences about the wines: small-berried, open clusters from healthy vines produce concentrated, flavorful wines with mature phenolics; fat and abundant clusters produce fluid, facile wines that may not be fully ripe; and ailing vineyards often yield incomplete phenolic ripeness or other kinds of imbalances. When you see differences as big as these, it also makes a nonsense of purchasing by appellation rather than producer. Buying Darviot-Perrin, you are getting something entitled to be called Meursault Perrières. But who, looking at the vineyards, wouldn’t rather have a bottle of Aligoté from Coche-Dury?