Winemaker Notes
Pairs marvelously with peppered rib, beef filet mignon, lamb shoulder or rack of pork and cheeses like Tomme des Bauges.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
The wine comes from a single vineyard in the large 90-acre Château de Chamirey estate. It is beautifully balanced, rich and generous. Great red-plum fruits are there along with acidity and finely textured tannins. This is going to be a warm wine with a fine future. Drink from 2022.
-
Wine Spectator
There's a firm edge to this red, with dusty tannins dominating the berry and cherry fruit. A hint of sweet oak chimes in, but this needs time. With aeration, this finds equilibrium on the finish. Best from 2020 through 2032.
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.