Fleshy and generous, the 2019 Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes exhibits aromas of pear, yellow orchard fruit, toasted almonds and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, lively and charming, with chalky structuring extract and lively acids, it has turned out well.

The 2010 Meursault Les Charmes is a big, big wine. Endless waves of fruit hit the palate. This is another extroverted, Meursault, even within the context of Charmes. Honey, almonds, wild flowers and juicy peaches wrap around the fleshy, exuberant finish. Today, the Charmes is a bit heavy, but if it settles down in bottle, it might merit a higher score down the road. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. (Not yet released) I find much to like in Francois Bitouzet’s 2010 whites. The wines are a bit tighter (in a good way) and more focused than they have been at times. Bitouzet told me he used just the heart of the press, as he wasn’t totally happy with the first press juice. Bitouzet did very little batonnage in 2010, a decision that seems to have paid off handsomely. The harvest started on September 22, quite late, and the malos were lengthy, as they were virtually everywhere. Bitouzet bottled his 2010 whites in March 2012. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

The 2009 Meursault Charmes is quite typical of the year and this site. It shows tons of up-front juiciness in its yellow stone fruits, with more than enough volume to fill out its broad shouldered frame, although some of the intensity drops off on the mid-palate. Sweet, honeyed tones wrap around the finish. As attractive as this is, the Charmes lacks an element of freshness and is likely to be a wine that offers its finest drinking sooner rather than later. The Charmes is a blend of two parcels; one in Charmes du Bas, the other in Charmes du Haut that are vinified and aged separately prior to being blended for the final wine. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. Francois Bitouzet showed me a wide range of wines during my visit to the estate in June, 2011. Unfortunately most of the 2010s were still going through malo and were hard to read, but I did have chance to go through the 2008s, which I have included here. The whites are aged for 12 months in oak, 20-25% new. The village wines are then racked into steel for a further 4-6 months, while the premier crus are racked back into barrel. The extended aging in oak for some of the wines and use of batonnage are among the factors that give these whites a fair amount of textural richness and depth, even in cooler, more reticent vintages such as 2008. New oak is between 20-25%. The 2009s were bottled in February 2011. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

The citrus, mineral, and nut-scented 1999 Meursault Charmes is light to medium-bodied, tightly wound, and possesses a lemon, stone, gravel, and hazelnut character. It is complex, precise, and reveals excellent density as well as length. Projected maturity: now-2006. Importer: Neal Rosenthal, Select Vineyard, Shekomeko, NY; tel (800) 910-1990.

Bitouzet has two parcels of Meursault Charmes, one in the lower half of the vineyard ("du bas") with very old vines, and the other in the upper half ("du haut") where the vines are ten years old. The Burgundian cognoscenti generally believe that the better terroir is the Charmes du haut (also known as "du dessus"), which appeared to coincide with my tasting of the component parts. Whereas the wine from older "du bas" vines seemed to have additional concentration, the "du haut" wine was rounder, more refined, and more persistent. The final blend is an outstanding wine, revealing orange rinds and almonds on the nose and a beautifully extracted, medium-to-full-bodied, and silky-textured character filled with candied red currants, flowers, minerals, and traces of vanilla. This elegant, well-crafted and wonderfully long wine should be at its peak between 2002 and 2007. The score, noted on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Vincent Bitouzet has produced wonderful 1996s. Whereas his white 1995s were luscious and opulent (ideal for near-term drinking), Bitouzet crafted refined and elegant '96s built for the long-haul. Importer: Neal Rosenthal, Select Vineyard, Shekomeko, NY; tel (800) 910-1990.