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Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, Saint-Véran

Burgundy, France 2018 (750mL)
$42.00
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Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, Saint-Véran

Having plowed through a small army of Comte Lafon bottlings over the years and barrel tasted several vintages of their mortgage-priced Montrachet, it’s safe to say they’re among my favorite producers in the world—as long as I’m not footing the bill. But there is one exception to that rule: I will happily shell out small amounts for their explosive and shockingly affordable project in Burgundy’s southern reaches.
In 1999, Dominique Lafon realized a long-held vision to craft wine from the hills of Mâconnais, an affordable tract of Burgundy built on a deep bed of rich clay and limestone. Since that time, the Lafons have proactively acquired parcels throughout this region, farmed them both organically and biodynamically, and matured the juice in large neutral barrels in order to shine a spotlight on this profoundly underrepresented region. It is not a stretch to compare today’s Saint-Véran with their luxury-priced wines in the Côte de Beaune. This ‘18 is a certifiable top expression of just how serious, textured, and mineral-inflected Chardonnay can be from this value-packed region of Burgundy. If you are curating a high-end, yet price-conscious cellar, Comte Lafon’s Saint-Veran is a wine to load up on.
Without any previous winemakers in the family, Dominique Lafon had to learn everything from scratch, often to the amusement of neighboring vintners. Now, Lafon is a world-renowned vigneron praised not only for his rich, focused Chardonnay from Meursault and Montrachet but for his integral part in shifting farming practices throughout the Cote d’Or. At a young age, he championed a group of innovative winemakers to employ organic and biodynamic viticulture in Burgundy, convincing even the most traditional houses to stop using chemicals and pesticides. Although Dominique Lafon isn’t necessarily getting his hands stained these days, he closely supervises the winemaking process that he’s placed in the adept hands of Caroline Gon.

The Mâconnais gets a higher amount of sunshine in the south and berries are gifted with a ripeness atypical to Burgundy’s northern reaches. There are a lot of peculiar, segmented appellations and terroirs down here so it pays to know exactly which part of this sprawling region your wine is coming from. As you can probably guess, Comte Lafon is providing the best Saint-Véran has to offer, with its top two grape-growing villages of Prissé and Davayé. These towns hug the northwestern reaches of Pouilly-Fuissé and share richer limestone soils that tend to produce lusher, flavor-loaded wines. 

Comte Lafon owns two parcels in Prissé and one in Davayé, both of which are farmed through Certified Organic/biodynamic practices and harvested by hand. Fermentation was triggered with indigenous yeast and subsequent aging occurred in a combination of old, massive 45hl barrels and 500-liter demi-muids.

In the glass, the wine displays a brilliant straw-yellow core with silver reflections and glints of green along the rim. This is a singular white Burgundy with unfolding layers of perfume and fruit alongside a charged level of tension on the palate—it should be studied at “wine universities” as the paragon of Burgundian value. The nose on this ‘18 recalls the explosive and luscious core of many 2015 Burgundies I’ve enjoyed: it oozes with high-toned floral perfume, ripe yellow fruit, and crystalline minerality. You’ll discover juicy peach, pear, yellow apple skin, preserved lemon, underripe pineapple, gunflint, acacia, honeysuckle, and finely crushed stones. It’s about as pure, delicious, and serious as Chardonnay gets down here. Though coming in at medium-bodied, the wine is no featherweight in the ring—intense fruit and pulverized, laser-sharp minerality pushes it into a fuller mouthfeel with a long, salivatory finish. Enjoy now with a 30-minute decant and save a few bottles for consumption around its fourth or fifth birthday. Cheers!
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceSaint-Véran
Soil
Clay & Limestone
Farming
Certified Organic & Biodynamic
Blend
Chardonnay 100%
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
Large Neutral Barrels
TEMP.
55
Glassware
Burgundy Stem
Drinking
Now-2025+
Decanting
15 Minutes
Pairing
Pan-Fried Turbot w/ Lemon-Butter Sauce

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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