Where are you finding the 99 euro bottles? Thanks
Our local Tastevin group has enjoyed many bottles of Latour Giraud, mostly the 1er crus rather than Villages-level, but all have been really good. If anything, they seem to take a longer time to be ready than some other white Burgs, though we recently had some Cuvee Pierre from 2010 that we probably should have drunk a couple of years earlier.
Highly recommended!
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Tried L-G for the first time a couple of years ago and now I buy as much as I can. Last weekend we tried the ‘22 Meursault Caillerets Rouge and it was real nice too.
My order just landed today so I opened the '23 MG + Pierre for a blind side by side. Pierre is definitely a step up in body as well as verve and acid.
Would I put it next to Lafon? Probably not. Of course at half the price, it’s a pretty good value. It would be a no-brainer at 1/4 of the price, which it sounds like it used to be.
I’ll probably start buying it in great white vintages (like '24) and might look to backfill some from 17/20. But natural cork unfortunately…
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If I had to guess, analytically, the 23 “regular” Genevrieres and the Cuvée des Pierre are close to identical in acidity. The Cuvées des Pierres has higher levels of dry extract (mineral mass/density of “material”), part of what gives it the taste sensation of greater verve/grip/power/acidity. People don’t talk enough about dry extract imho, and it is an essential component to me in great geologically interesting wine. The regular Genevrieres is even more weightlessly silky and lacy, easier going. On some occasions/vintages, I prefer the Zen harmony of the regular vs the “impressive” intensity of the Pierres.
I will ask Jean Pierre on Tuesday about the two 2023s to confirm what the analytics are.
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We had a great visit there several years ago.
I really love the Perrières.
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I’m of the opinion that these wines are in the same class as Lafon’s Meursault (minus the lack of DIAM), although I also think Lafon might be in a bit of a slump at the moment. Lafon’s 14’s and 17’s were soooo good, but the 19’s and 20’s haven’t shown the power, tension, and complexity I’ve come to expect. Maybe I’ve just had poor luck and the wines are just too young (I definitely haven’t given up hope) but at that price point I’m much more inclined to buy Paul Pillot and Lamy Caillat.
I haven’t had the Latour Giraud’s 23s to be fair though. I’m not buying much from 23. I have liked plenty of what I’ve tried for their more forward giving style, but I’m more inclined to continue backfilling 22 / 20 and then looking ahead to go deep on 24.
23 seems to be the new 18 in the sense that the yields were very high - I think even if I regret not buying them, they will be easy to source for a reasonable price for the next 5 years, where as 24 will be very expensive if you don’t snap them up on release.
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20 Monty crushed the 14 and 17 and went toe to toe with the epic 10 earlier this year. It’s also Pierre’s fav.
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I’m going to have to disagree with that, the 20 lafon have been fire; I’ve had MP and Montrachet a few times and they’ve been great.
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To clarify - I haven’t had 20 MP or Monty - just Charmes and Genevrieres. I do think historically Lafon makes the best Charmes though due to the location of his parcel so the jump to Perrieres isn’t as large as it can be for other producers.
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My understanding is that the sulfur regimen, among other things, has put the Latour-Giraud’s into the lower risk grouping re: premox among those producers using natural cork (per the oxidized WB wiki), though I wish they would make the switch to DIAM.
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I agree. It’s also the best value as it trades much closer to legit pricing. The MP is priced 5€ more than the Charmes from the cellar door. Naturally, part of the secondary market pricing is they make 3x as much Charmes.
As far as the 20s, I’ve had a dozen bottles of the lower end cuvées and they can feel stuck in 3rd gear right now. I think they just need time to come around. I also had a Monty that was more closed than the one this year.
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Andrew,
Circling back to this, I confirmed with JP on Tuesday: the 2023 Genevrieres and Cuvées des Pierres have identical pH/acidity. Interesting, right?
Fwiw, his 2024s are shaping up to be yet another fantastic collection, up and down the range, in a quite classical, cooler year vein.
For next year…
santé à tous
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Popped the '23 MP tonight. It’s really good. It just lacks a bit on the front palate and a bit of excitement and energy. If I had to compare it to the '23 Lafon MP, so we’re comparing apples to apples, it’s not in the same league, but it is clearly better than any other almost rans.
I think that the comments are right that it was priced as a bargain in the past, but at this point the prices have increased to where it’s not as much of a value.
Put it this way - I’m not running out to buy cases, where I probably would make it my house white at half the price where it sounds like it used to be.
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I do think that it’s unfair to judge based off one vintage - I would be curious to look at a few vintages together - (I’m clearly guilty of this as well with my single comparison of the 2020 vintage). I also think this highlights the importance of personal preference. One thing that gets me really excited about the Latour Giraud wines are the aromatics. I find the wines to be more interesting aromatically and this is something I place an outsized importance on compared to some. Aromatics are very important to me in White Burg and for me, these are some of the key features that really separates Coche and d’Auvenay from the rest of the pack. Obviously the palate is very important as well, but I would trade some front palate for more fire works on the nose.
Bouchard MP as house white?
Not a chance. It’s way better than Bouchard at a better price.
Isn’t Bouchard mp much cheaper? I guess it looks like the price has come up a lot on that; it used to be like $70 for the 2017.
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Interesting rejoinder here as I was texting @Steve_McL about LG earlier this week. Mostly because I don’t drink it a lot and I was recently reviewing past Burghound issues on white burgs over past five or so years. Meadows sure likes the wines. Consistently high, almost abnormally high, scores for what were once relative value wines. He sure likes the style .Made me want to revisit. Bought some 20 and 22 Genervries.
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Bouchard is basically dead to me at the current price point.