How long should I keep a village Meursault?

After a week with some discussions about premox and some rather interesting views on drinking windows for white Burgundies

I really began to wonder … what is the expected lifespan for a village Meursault these days … should it age for 10 years in the cellar or should it be consumed within the first 5 years?

And yes I know there is big differences between the producers and the vintages … but nevertheless its a topic I have been thinking quite a lot about in recent years.

The premox dilemma

The premox problems have really changed the view on white Burgundies for many people – and its hard to mention let alone discuss this subject without getting into trouble.

I have experienced some premoxed bottles over the years- but I do however still buy my white Burgundies with the intention of aging them at in the cellar – to get the matured complexity. I love mature white Burgundies … and would not miss them for the world.

I fully acknowledge that keeping the wine for 10 years increases the likelihood of getting badly premoxed bottles, and as a consequence I try to avoid to buy and cellar producers with a high rate of premox problems.

I do however have a few older village wines in the cellar – that was acquired before I really began to worry about premox … and these bottles are sometimes a bit of a lottery … but in general most are fine and only relatively few are badly premoxed.

So lets not blow this premox problem out of proportions … its there but in reality the problem is quite limited for most producers especially in recent years.

I have recently made a list of premoxed wines tasted … not all wines are included (did not keep track of all until recently)… but nevertheless the list is relatively short indicating that the problem is rather limited … at least in my case.

So please no premox panic …

When is a village Meursault ready to drink

I was following the debate on Facebook and found this quote about a Meursault 2009 village from a top end producer … that intrigued me a bit:

“Not oxidised…and very good indeed. I would say it is well within its drinking window now and should keep for another couple of years.”

I have no doubt about the validity of this statement, as this is a competent taster, and this somehow also match my experience with quite a few of the white Burgundies I have tasted over the last years.

This is however, in my view, still a young wine – three years on bottle – not even 5 years old – and already well within its drinking window!

Is this what we should expect from a 70 – 80€ Meursault village?

Are the whites made to be drunk younger? … Is global warming playing a role in this? Or is there another explanation to why some whites seems to have a relatively short lifespan.

One explanation could be that some slightly premoxed wines are being drunk relatively young without people even noticing the problem is under development. I have seen what appears to be quite large bottle variation in some white Burgundies when they are 2 to 4 years old, and then after a few years more the bottle variation increases and the worst examples starts to collapse completely.

Drinking and buying strategy?

When I buy wines its for both cellaring and immediate pleasure. Normally the more expensive bottles are cellared, while the more affordable are tasted and then the rest of these go to the cellar.

If I pay a high price for the wine I want to make the most of it, and drink it when its matured or fully mature. I don’t pay 80€ euro for a bottle of village wine if I’m forced to drink it within the first 5 years. I buy white Burgundies to age them and get the wonderful complexity of a mature wine.

Time to change strategy … ?

So far I have only modified my behavior slightly – I begin to drink my village wines a few years earlier …. before I would hold them in the cellar for 10 years (from the year of the harvest) or even more in a good vintage, now I’m going down to 7 to 10 years. I drink a larger percentage of the whites relatively young … thus reducing the share used for long time cellaring.

Have you changed your cellar strategy? – join the discussion on the Winehog Facebook page: