In barrel and waiting its second racking and bottling, the Jobard 2007 Meursault Charmes is scented with distilled pear and white peach, with the piquancy of their pits segueing into suggestions of citrus rind and crushed stone. Lemony and fresh pit fruit brightness on a subtly silken yet palpably extract-rich palate are underlain by milled grain and toasted nuts, as well as a diversity of mineral nuances – rather alkaline as well as chalky; savory as well as saline – that make for genuine intrigue. It could be that the location of Jobard’s vines – bordering Perrieres – serves to explain the nuances of mineral notes and the alluring element of mystery that so often distinguishes this wine from other renditions of Charmes. Just smelling the empty glass is a fascinating treat, as should be the finished wine in the course of a decade or more in bottle.Antoine Jobard’s avowed upholding of his father’s “classic style” – enhanced by late bottling but with exclusively passive lees contact – extends to his preference for 2007 over the obviously richer, lower-acid 2005 and 2006 vintages, and his analogy with 2004 “except finer, less vegetal, and straighter” is born out by parallel tasting. While these 2007s display the brightness of acids, strong mineral cast, and energy that are hallmarks of 2007, few white Burgundy collections of the vintage were as tight and restrained last summer as was Jobard’s. He began picking already on September 3 and finished in only a week, in large part to guard acidity, although his must weights were already ample, and the finished wines – certain of which were lightly chaptalized – typically in the upper 12s in percent alcohol.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524; also imported by Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400