In the heart of Meursault, Domaine Latour-Giraud remains a reference point for classical Côte de Beaune Chardonnay. Family roots extend back to the late 17th century, with the present estate formed in 1958 through the union of the Latour and Giraud families. Today, Jean-Pierre Latour oversees viticulture and winemaking across roughly 10 hectares of appellation holdings, the majority devoted to white wine.
The domaine’s centre of gravity is Meursault Premier Cru, with parcels in Genevrières, Charmes, Perrières, Bouchères and Poruzot. With 2.5 hectares in Genevrières, Latour-Giraud is one of the principal proprietors of this benchmark site. A holding in Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs-Canet, on the northern limit of the appellation, complements village Meursault lieux-dits including Limozin, Narvaux and Clos du Cromin. The Charles Maxime cuvée, assembled from Vireuils, Pelles, Corbins and Carrouge, offers a composite view of the appellation and the breadth of Meursault’s terroirs.
Within Genevrières, the domaine bottles a special selection, Cuvée Pierre, drawn from the upper section of their holding and produced in very limited quantity. In 2023 this represented four barrels from a total of forty in Genevrières, selected from vines over 50 years of age. The wine shows a deeper register from the outset, favouring understated concentration over immediate detail. The élevage is seamlessly absorbed, allowing the fruit to unfurl with air. After time in the glass, the purity becomes striking, crystalline white fruit emerging with remarkable clarity before the full scale of the wine asserts itself. There is both subtlety and power here, the concentration of old vines carried by the fine-boned structure that defines this Premier Cru.
Jean-Pierre Latour has noted that 2023 required careful judgment in the vineyard. Warm conditions and rapidly accumulating sugars meant harvest began unusually early, on 24 August. Potential alcohols were already tracking half a degree above 2022, generally between 13.5 and 14 percent, and yields were comparable to the previous year, around 45 hectolitres per hectare for the village wines.
The whites were brought in over eight days. The result is a poised and articulate range that reflects early, decisive picking and attentive élevage. The wines carry the ripeness of the season yet remain grounded in site, with Genevrières showing fine-boned intensity, Perrières more tensile and mineral, and Charmes broader but composed. Across the range, 2023 reinforces Latour-Giraud’s strengths in measured vineyard decisions and restraint in the cellar, delivering whites of clarity, depth and classical proportion.