Domaine Henri Germain & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Porusots – 2020

“Aromas of pear, orange oil, white flowers, fresh hazelnuts and bread dough introduce the 2020 Meursault 1er Cru Poruzots, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vibrant wine that’s concentrated and chalky, concluding with a long, saline finish. Poruzots is typically quite demonstrative, but chez Germain that tendency is always tempered by classical structure and balance.” 92-94pts The Wine Advocate

Every time I open a bottle of Germain, I find myself wondering whether I’m sufficiently vocal in my admiration for this estate, a winery that I have regularly characterized as Meursualt’s most underrated domaine. Several superb mature Germain wines will be reviewed in the next Burgundy-themed installment of “Up From the Cellar,” which I hope will give readers who haven’t had the pleasure at least a vicarious sense of the rewards of patience at this address—and of just how long Jean-François Germain and his family have been producing superb wine. But what of the 2020s? In short, they’re exceptional. Yields were good (“if someone offered me a deal whereby every vintage would work out like this, I wouldn’t hesitate to sign on the dotted line,” said Germain), and the wines are concentrated, chiseled and beautifully balanced. They’re worth a special effort to seek out. Since this seven-hectare estate remains comparatively under the radar, it’s worth reiterating that viticulture here is organic (though uncertified) and vinification decidedly traditional, the wines spending two winters in barrel on the lees, if possible without racking and almost invariably without bâtonnage. In the domaine’s cold cellars, alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are protracted, but Germain is content to let the wines take their time. Percentages of new oak are decidedly moderate (contrary to whatever one might read elsewhere) and derive from Meursault’s Tonnellerie Damy. The resulting wines are rich but incisive, with fleshy fruit but firm structural bones that demand time in the cellar. In the last decade, the style has become a little less austere and reductive, probably as much a reflection of climate as of technique, but the domaine remains old-fashioned in the best sense. Everything is bottled under natural cork from Trescases.” William Kelley, the Wine Advocate