Domaine Francois Mikulski Meursault 1er cru Les Poruzots 2021 750ml

No doubt, this is the most marine of the range this year; it starts strong – you feel like you’re right there on the seashore in Normandy or in Pas-de-Calais; shingles, seaweed, Fine de Claire oysters and, if you dare, abalone; moss clinging to rocks. In apparent contradiction, then follows a world of vegetal complexity and fruits that are difficult to describe; skin, bark, juice where sweetness and bitterness overlap, dried vegetables, and more dried vegetables that have been allowed to soak, lentils, chickpeas, cornflour, but also mushrooms, leather, the scent of white truffle, of white chocolate, fresh pasta and melted cheese; surf and turf, dry and wet, sweet and bitter; a Poruzots of very great complexity that should be paired with the most gastronomic of dishes.

The palate is both loaded with fruit and a powerful expression of the soil; pear, apple, a touch of quince, Mirabelle plum, yellow peach.

The finish is tense, intense – this intensity is high, focused, powerful; a demonstration of the empyreumatic force of the limestone subsoil; we feel the presence of sand in the length and a return to the marine – very ‘seafood’ flavours closing the loop. Based on the description above, and after laying down for at least five years, a surf ’n’ turf dish, such as lobster and chicken cooked in a sealed casserole should be sensational.