Domaine des Comtes Lafon is based in Meursault, where it has holdings in each of the finest Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in Meursault. They have a reputation for maintaining the signature character of each site in their wines. They don’t rest on their laurels, though, their red wines from their Volnay Premiers Crus are increasingly popular and should not be overlooked.
The domaine was established in 1869 by the Boch family and has remained in their care ever since – only changing its name when Marie Boch married Comte Jules Lafon in ‘94. When fourth-generation Dominique Lafon took charge in 1985, Domaine des Comtes Lafon already had a reputation for unconventional yet outstanding white wines.
At the time, most of the vineyards were leased out to sharecroppers; but by ‘93 Dominique had reclaimed all of his family’s vineyards and assumed full control of the domaine. Not only are the Lafons’ 15 individual vineyards located in the best appellations in Meursault and Volnay, but they tend to be very well situated within them, and are now cultivated according to organic and biodynamic principles. In 2010, Jasper Morris wrote in his book ‘Inside Burgundy’, that their white wines were “now consistently among the best in Burgundy, while since 1989 the reds have reached the top division”.
In ‘99 the Lafon family branched out, buying a domaine in the Mâconnais at Milly-Lamartine and making wines under the name of ‘Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon’. More recently, Dominique Lafon has also established a small label of his own bearing his own name.
91 Points Allen Meadows
This too evidences a note of exoticism on the expressive nose of orchard fruit, especially peach and apricot, that combines with roasted hazelnut notes that continue onto the rich, full and admirably concentrated medium-bodied flavors that possess plenty of punch and verve on the mouth coating finish.
90-91 Points Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The Lafon 2006 Meursault Clos de la Barre offers another example of very clear, bright fruit; a polished, satiny texture yet with underlying firmness and palpable mineral density; nut oil richness; and a long, expressive finish featuring luscious lime, grapefruit, and pineapple. Along with narcissus and citrus, there are hints of coconut, vanilla, and lanolin on the nose, although only 3-4 of the 50-some barrels were new. Some of the exotic character on exhibit here can be chalked up to “late” harvest, so quickly were the grapes evolving in the four prior days of picking. I suspect this will be best enjoyed over the next 4-6 years. The more mineral – iodine, salt, chalk – inflected 2005 is formidably dense and sappy.