Three adjacent parcels of Meursault Perrières this Spring (updated!)

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?

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Lovely photos and all worth a thousand words at least

Thanks for these pictures! Apples and oranges

We always talk about winemaking and winemakers as if the secrets are in the winery, while in many (most?) cases the secret is hard work in the vineyards.

In fact, I think it’s both. The differences between a producer such as Coche-Dury and a less conscientious domaine are just as massive in the cellar as in the vineyards. But quite how obvious the distinction in the vineyards between one producer and another are is certainly not self-evident, as most wine lovers can’t walk the vineyards—and if they can, it isn’t easy to figure out who knows what. If timings work I’ll try to repeat the exercise just before harvest so everyone can see how different the grapes look, too.

Very cool to see this. What’s the farming program chez Coche?

I am curious as to why there is such a difference. Part of it is attributable to slightly different locations in the vineyard of course. But what sort of farming (for lack of a better word) practices are (or are not being done) by Darviot-Perrin that result in such a difference?

This is a great post, providing a lot of food for thought William, thank you. Are Domaines free to farm their parcels as they see fit? Prune, replace vines, plant cover, etc.?

William, a fascinating and educational post. Many thanks.

The simple answer is long-term neglect. I think the poor health of the Darviot-Perrin parcel may have been exacerbated by a recent return to cultivating the soils (in itself a good thing) after a long period of herbicide use (which cuts surface roots and deprives the vines of nitrogen), but I am speculating. The vines are clearly suffering, witness the chlorosis and stunted canopies. In any case, when you consider that the site is to all intents and purposes the same, it is truly shameful to see; and that is the diplomatic way of putting it. In any case, this is 100% down to management choices and 0% down to terroir.

Years ago, I heard several times that my favorite producer, Jacky Truchot, was the first one out in the fields in the morning. I always thought of his work in the vineyards (plus of course really old vines and winemaking skills) as a key to the success of his wines.

William, thank you for starting this thread. Threads like this are when this board is at its best.

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Yes, absolutely (in Champagne they have less freedom). And equally, without wishing to sound too judgmental, they should also be held responsible for their choices. That is what has been missing.

It must be very frustrating in a situation where one winemaker is trying to be sustainable, or biodynamic, or at least conscientious, and the folks in the rows on either side of them are not.

make a citizens’s arrest or invoke eminent domain and seize those vines—give them to a conscientious producer. What a tragedy. Great thread.

You are a special guy. Thanks William. This is a really important exercise.

the shame is i have gotten a few email offers from very reputable merchants trying to pass off the davriot-perrin wines as top shelf wines made with impeccable farming. i have never tried them so i can’t comment with authority but, needless to say i am never convinced by these used car salesmen type offers.

William,

I don’t think you are speculating. While I don’t have hard data with numbers on paper, years back, I know that in Champange a number of the larger producers were horrified when they moved some vineyards from chemical farming immediately to organic or biodynamic. They were expecting the vineyards to improve, but the shock of the change saw the vines do exactly the opposite. With a need for quantity and hopefully quality, a number of these changes were stopped and the whole process had to be re-thought. Everyone agreed change was needed, but a lot of decisions were made to do it slowly as to ensure year-over-year quantity and quality with the long term vision kept intact.

My pleasure! Will do a lot more along these lines around harvest time. With some video, too. In fact, I have a video of the Coche parcel, where somehow the health of the vines comes across more vividly in the photo, I should figure out how to post it.

But around harvest, if I’m able to get back to Burgundy, I think people would be amazed to see the differences between the fruit in e.g. Claude Dugat’s Charmes-Chambertin and Camus’, etc etc. So I will try to capture that. And more besides.

Also on board with much thanks for doing this, William. Super instructive

Mike