Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Excellent concentration and power to this with aromas of cloves, black cherries, black currants, tea leaves and mocha. It’s full-bodied, with firm and broad tannins that are well-integrated. Lots of muscle but balanced with fresh acidity, too. Better from 2024.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh pomegranate and rhubarb welcome the nose, followed by aromas of Gala apple, rosehip and fresh potting soil. The palate is textured yet rustic, with gentle yet persistent tannins, balanced by good acidity. Flavors of black and red cherries are accompanied by notes of rosehip and clove that lead to a light black-tea leaf finish. Cellar through 2030+.
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Wine Spectator
A broad, powerful red, evoking blackberry, boysenberry and earth flavors. This quickly gives way to dense, sinewy tannins, which leave an astringent feel on the finish. Best from 2025 through 2033. 1,666 cases made.
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.”
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.