Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Claude de Nicolay explains that her 1.33-hectare parcel lies at the frontier of Aloxe, Perrnand, and Savigny and seems to share a bit of each. The vines are low on the slope, below the Ile des Vergelesses. Although the soils are deep, the fruit ripens well, and the wine is not as rustic as the Savigny Aux Fournaux. It displays a sweet cherry fruit with a lovely concentration and a floral edge. The wine is approachable and should be drinkable reasonably young, but it does not lack tannin or structure and has the stuffing to age.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and bursting with ripe black cherry, black currant and blackberry fruit, this red also reveals violet and iron flavors. Airy and fluid, firming up ever so slightly on the complex, spice-tinged finish. Best from 2027 through 2039. 397 cases made, 60 cases imported.
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Jasper Morris
An even medium deep purple. A very elegant floral, rose petal nose with some pleasing light fresh raspberry beneath. Then an extra burst of bright raspberry and cherry fruit on the palate with a little sucrosity, with the cherries reappearing after the light tannins. Barrel Sample: (89-91)
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.”
Occupying the most northerly combe (the French term for a valley that cuts through a hillside) of the Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelles sits to the west of and behind the hill of Corton. The most sought after whites of the village come from the slope of Pernand on the side of Corton where Pernand-Vergelles shares the Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne with Aloxe-Corton. The best red producing Cru is Les Vergelles, which overlaps into Savigny-les-Beaune. Reds here are fleshy, seductive and structured while whites are both lively and age worthy.