The Latour-Giraud 2006 Meursault Charmes combines refreshing citrus and distinct suggestions of crushed stone with a flatteringly creamy texture. A savory saline-sweet sense of minerality wells up in the finish. Like so many wines in this collection, it displays some overt oakiness, although only one of the three barrels in which it fermented was new, and although the wine had been racked back into older barrels by the time that I tasted it. Hopefully there will be short-term integration of the wood, and certainly one can imagine at least 5-7 years of worthwhile bottle evolution. Jean-Pierre Latour was one of those growers who got a jump on the 2006 ban de vendange in an effort to preserve freshness and clarity of fruit (although on that score, he professes to prefer his 2005s). The 2006 collection was slow to ferment and to undergo malo-lactic transformation; and from tank immediately before bottling, many wines struck me as somewhat disjointed and/or awkwardly marked by milk and new wood. Various importers, including Bayfield Importing, Long Island, NY (718)482 0200; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352 1100; and Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL; tel. (561) 998 0029

The Latour-Giraud 2006 Meursault Charmes combines refreshing citrus and distinct suggestions of crushed stone with a flatteringly creamy texture. A savory saline-sweet sense of minerality wells up in the finish. Like so many wines in this collection, it displays some overt oakiness, although only one of the three barrels in which it fermented was new, and although the wine had been racked back into older barrels by the time that I tasted it. Hopefully there will be short-term integration of the wood, and certainly one can imagine at least 5-7 years of worthwhile bottle evolution. Jean-Pierre Latour was one of those growers who got a jump on the 2006 ban de vendange in an effort to preserve freshness and clarity of fruit (although on that score, he professes to prefer his 2005s). The 2006 collection was slow to ferment and to undergo malo-lactic transformation; and from tank immediately before bottling, many wines struck me as somewhat disjointed and/or awkwardly marked by milk and new wood.Various importers, including Bayfield Importing, Long Island, NY (718)482 0200; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA, tel. (781) 352 1100; and Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL; tel. (561) 998 0029