Winemaker Notes
The Mercurey Champs Martin Premier Cru is fresh, fine and fragrant. Slightly oaked notes complement black fruit aromas on the nose, along with scents of violet, blueberry, blackberry and licorice. Fleshy and velvety on the palate with flavors of strawberry and vanilla. Highly aromatic finish.
A fine accompaniment to red meats whether grilled, roasted or in red wine sauce, feathered game and mild cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There's a touch of pink peppercorn here alongside red berry fruit, red tea and licorice. Racy and fresh on the palate, with a medium body and very fine tannins. Energetic and bright. From organically grown grapes.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh aromas of red fruits meld with white mushrooms, violets and clove in the glass. The palate offers more savory tones and rose bouquet with a sprinkling of white peppercorn and flaky salt.
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Wine Spectator
Displaying generous black cherry, blackberry and iron flavors, this rich version is supple and vibrant, ending with an edge of tannins and lingering fruit, plus a graphite aftertaste. Best from 2026 through 2033.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Beloved for its deep and flavorful reds made of Pinot Noir, Mercurey is the largest and most important village in the Côte Chalonnaise of Burgundy with most of its vineyards tucked away in hillsides or stretched along the aptly-named “Golden Valley.” This valley, sheltered from the moist and cool air that funnels along at lower elevations, is ideal for ripening Pinot noir.
Mercurey follows strict yield laws, similar to those at the Côte d’Or village level, promoting the development of deep, full, concentrated and age-worthy Pinot noirs. In their youth, a chewy and rich structure supports flavors of ripe strawberry, raspberry and cherry. Age brings notes of underbrush, tobacco and cocoa.
While Pinot Noir claims the majority of Mercurey vineyard acreage, Chardonnay does grow here and produces uniqely floral and spicey scented white wines.