Coming largely from 70-, 40- and 15-year old vines, and treated to around half new barrels, Lafon’s 2006 Meursault Charmes is both more open-knit and more overtly chalky and creamy than its stable mates, but displays notable polish and subtlety. Its nose of diverse citrus and pit fruits is tinged with notes of toast and vanilla. The finish here really “Charms”, enveloping and fanning out expansively, with no let up in sweetness of fruit or suggestions of crushed stone. “Honestly,” Lafon remarks, “when you taste wine from the 70 year old vines before racking, it’s just so lean and so mineral that on its own it’s almost undrinkable, too tough” and benefits from “a portion of young vines which is always much more up-front.” Expect this to be worth following for at least 8-10 years. The spicy, subtly bitter 2005 is polished and well-concentrated, but betrays extraneous hints of barrel and heat, and was outclassed by its siblings on both occasions when I tasted it. Like his neighbor Jean-Marc Roulot, Benoit Ente in Puligny, and a few others, Dominique Lafon obtained authorization to begin picking several days ahead of the official ban de vendange. He set his crew to work over the weekend, and was finished already on the 20th of September. The Perrieres, picked first, reached 13.8% alcohol, but all of the other wines weighed in at lower levels. Lafon insisted – and his wines testified – that the Chardonnay grapes were botrytis free, and he characterized the lees as excellent in quality and practiced “l(fā)ess settling than I did in the past.” That restraint – along with bright acids and pronounced minerality – makes for a richness that often expresses itself other than in creaminess. As these wines evolved, Lafon became increasingly enthusiastic about them, and I found them much more expressive on the eve of bottling than they had been in late 2007. Incidentally, the sickly vines in Lafon’s Desiree vineyard that have given so much bottled pleasure over the years gave their last in the beautifully refined, bittersweet, and for the vintage unusually delicate and creamy 2005. “It tastes as though the vines knew they were going to be pulled out,” was Lafon’s valediction. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers), fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70; A Daniel Johnnes Selection imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY, tel. (516) 677 9300; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352 1100; Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA, tel. (510) 559 1040