The 2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes was also showing well, mingling apples, peach and fresh pastry with notes of hazelnuts and white flowers. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, textural and lively, with fine amplitude, lively acids and chalky structure. This isn't quite as muscular and chiseled as the 2017 rendition, and it should drink well sooner.

The 2017 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes is also showing well after a year in bottle, opening up in the glass with notes of fresh peach, crisp green apple, white flowers and warm pastry. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, satiny and chiseled, with a muscular and concentrated core that has gained in depth and a long, precise finish.

A much richer style of Puligny comes across in the 2010 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes. Super-ripe yellow stone fruits, honey, hazelnuts, butter, dried pears and crushed flowers take shape in the glass. Today, the Combettes is quite round and dense. Exotic overtones are layered into the creamy, beautifully balanced finish. Anticipated maturity: 2013+. Thierry Matrot told me he thinks 2010 is one of the greatest vintages of the last 30 years. Yields came in around 20-25 hectoliters per hectare, which is tiny by any measure. Batonnage gives the Matrot wines quite a bit of textural richness when they are young, along with the impression they are built for serious aging, but in my experience the wines need to be enjoyed within a few years after release. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the 2010 Meursault Perrieres for this article, although I hope to taste it soon. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

Mint and white flowers are some of the notes that emerge fromt the 2009 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes. It is one of the more understated wines in this lineup, but does not lack for nuance and articulation in its fruit. This is a beautifully balanced, harmonious white from Matrot. Anticipated maturity: 2013+. I found myself most attracted to the entry-level wines at Matrot. A number of the basic offerings are absolutely joyous, but the more important wines aren’t markedly more complex in my view. Only the villages-level Meursault is disappointing. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802