The 1994 Meursault Les Charmes Reserve Cuvee Unique (made from 50-60-year old vines) exhibits gobs of buttery, popcorn, smoke, and toasty scents in its penetrating aromatics. Full-bodied, with outstanding concentration and purity, this is a natural tasting, lush white Burgundy that should drink well for 7-8 years. This is an example of a grower whom I have followed for years, often impressed with the wines from barrel, but disappointed with them after they were stripped and eviscerated at bottling. This is a common practice, especially in Burgundy where many small growers do not have the financial capacity to bottle their wines, relying instead on mobile bottling trucks that drive up to the cellar door, and then proceed to denude the wines with their standard operating procedures of traumatic pumping, processing, and filtering. North Berkeley has finally convinced M. Martenot, who has superb vineyards, to barrel ferment and bottle unfiltered the North Berkeley cuvees. The difference between those wines and the regular offerings makes for an overwhelming endorsement for non-filtration.
North Berkeley Wines, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 848-8910 and (800) 266-6585; fax (510) 848-0841