Winemaker Notes
The wine is very elegant, with a fine and precise structure expressing strong minerality. This gives great aromatic complexity that is enhanced through ageing. In its youth, floral aromas such as violet are found, with a touch of licorice. Slightly smoky and gun-flinty, it possesses great persistence on the palate.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From vines planted in the 1950s, the 2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières is a one of the highlights of the range this year, wafting from the glass with a fragrant and projected bouquet of orange rind, potpourri, plum, raspberry and incipient forest floor. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, velvety and sapid, with a rich attack, succulent acids, an ample chassis of fine-grained tannins and a long, saline finish. A superb Lavières that has yet to shut down.
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.”
Savigny-lès-Beaune is a small village near Beaune that produces delightful red and white wines under its own appellation name. Cut by a river, the vineyards on its southern side have sandy soils that result in charming, floral reds. Premiers Crus vineyards on this side include Les Peuillets, Les Narbantons, Les Rouvrettes and Les Marconnets.
On Savigny’s northern side, bordering Pernand-Vergelles, vineyards are planted on rocky soils and produce juicy and spicy Pinot Noir. The village’s best whites, all made of Chardonnay, are full on the palate and abound in texture, complexity and freshness.