domaine des comtes lafon
Dominique Lafon
Meursault
Côte de beaune - Côte d’or - burgundy
Story…
The domaine itself dates back to around the mid 1800’s where the house and cellar were constructed by the Boch family at the Clos de la Barre. The wine estate was later formed just before the turn of the century after Comte Jules Lafon married Mlle Marie Boch. Jules began acquiring some incredible well situated plots in some of Meursault and Volnay’s best vineyard sites, as well as a beautiful slice of Le Montrachet that he acquired in 1919. These acquisitions are the base of the estates greatness amongst the Burgundy elite.
The estate went through a bit of a rough patch after the passing of Jules Lafon, and for a rather extended period the estate went through a sharecropping phase and the future became somewhat uncertain. It wasn’t until Jules’ grandson, René, took an interest in the winery did things start to look up. He fought to stop the division of the vineyards, although much of his hard work would not pay off until his son, Dominique, would take control of the estate in the early 1980’s. Dominique was able to facilitate the end of all sharecropping agreements by the end of the 80’s which has allowed him access to a large number of Premier Cru holdings across the region. With all the original family holdings back under family control and Dominique’s clear talent has pushed the estate to be one of the finest producers in the world, not just in Burgundy.
With the domaine being located in Meursault it comes as no surprise that the white wines of the estate are where the most recognition comes from. However the reds produced from the estate holdings mostly Volnay, as well as a small holding in Monthélie have never been better. Dominique has continued to acquire and grow the family holdings over the years, obtaining several more plots in various sites across Meursault. He has also purchased a domaine in the Mâconnais which is now sold under the Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon label. On top of this Dominique also started to bottle a small portion of wine under his own personal label, Dominique Lafon.
Farming & Philosophy…
A fairly early adopter to both organic and biodynamic practices, Dominique converted the vineyards to organic farming in 1995 and then in 1998 made the full conversion to biodynamics. The entire estate continues to be farmed biodynamically, with all the harvest and work in the vineyards are done by hand.
Vinification is relatively straightforward for the estate, although each plots is treated as its own entity and minor adjustments here and there are made based on how the juice is developing. Overall the whites are typically whole-bunch pressed to temperature controlled tanks to settle. Oak use is as one might expect, village level wines age exclusively in used oak, while the Premier Cru juice sees a mix of 50-70% new oak and the Le Montrachet sees 100% new oak for the first winter. Both the Premier Cru and Grand Cru whites are racked to used oak for a second winter in barrel. The red wines are fully destemmed and spend up to 5 days in temperature controlled tanks for pre-fermentation maceration with punch downs up to twice a day, the wines see around 30% new oak and aged for roughly 18 months in barrel with two rackings before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
vineyards…
Comte Jules Lafon really set the stage for this domaine when he went about purchasing plots in the 1800’s. Not only did he obtain holdings in a large amount of Premier Crus sites and a treasured holding in the Grand Cru Le Montrachet site, he also had a knack for obtaining particularly well-situated plots within each vineyard. The estate’s plots are some of the best in nearly all of their Premier Cru vineyard holdings.
The sites listed below only scratch the surface of the holdings that are under the families control, it is focused on the sites that we are lucky enough to obtain bottlings of.
Meursault:
En La Barre
located right next to the Lafon’s monopole, Clos de la Barre, the vines here were planted in 1953 & 1956 | used for the Meursault village bottling
En Laraule
located next to the Goutte d’Or Premier Cru vineyard, the vineyard was planted in 1975 and the domaine purchased .45 ha in 1996 | used for the Meursault village bottling
Les Crotots
a more recent acquire, the domaine purchased this .17 ha plot in 2004 and since 2009 it has been a part of the Meursault village bottling
Clos de la Barre
a 2.12 ha monopole owned entirely by the domaine and encircled by a wall | portions of the vineyard were planted in 1950 (.8 ha), 1975 (.8 ha) and then in 1999 & 2004 (.5 ha) | the vineyard is made up of a layer of shallow clay atop hard limestone
Clos de la Baronne
a newer addition to the line-up, first bottled in 2012 as a single parcel | comes from the 2.7 ha monopole vineyard with roughly 40 year old vines
Porusots 1er Cru
an nearly 12 ha vineyard sandwiched between Generièvres & Bouchères | Lafon’s plot is east facing with deep clay soils above hard limestone
Perrières 1er Cru
2 separate parcels equalling just under a hectare of vines | .77 ha in Perrières Dessous planted in 1955 & 1983 towards the bottom of the vineyard | .14 ha in Perrières Ginette, also located at the bottom of the vineyard | the topsoil quite fine and white due to the high amount of limestone and marl, subsoils are flaked limestone
Charmes 1er Cru
a 1.71 ha plot located at the top, and widely considered the best part of the vineyard | vines were planted over three different dates - 1946 by Auguste Morey; 1963 by Pierre Morey; & 1996 by Dominique | fairly deep clay/limestone soils with crumbly rocks throughout
Montrachet & Volnay:
Montrachet Grand Cru
purchased by Jules Lafon in 1918 and is the crown jewel of the estate | they own a .32 ha plot at the extreme southern end of the vineyard, just south of Romanée-Conti’s plots | vines were planted in 1953 (80%) & 1972 (20%)
Volnay Santenots du Milieu
multiple parcels purchased by Jules Lafon that amount to 3.78 ha total in vineyard holdings
Volnay Champans
a .52 ha plot that holds the domaines oldest vines | roughly two-thirds of the vineyard being planted in 1922 & the other third was planted in 1989 | light soils with small stones over crushed limestone subsoils
