Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Chevalier de la Crée Cote de Beaune Knights Templar Cuvee is beautifully balanced upon approach, displaying dark cherry and raspberry aromas, with hints of citrus peel and tobacco. The palate is awash with balanced red fruit flavors, finishing with lively floral tones of dried flowers and pomegranate. Texturally, this young Burgundian Pinot Noir is bright, with soft tannins and balanced acidity that will age with grace for the next decade.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of dark fruit, dried herbs and violets. Medium-to full-bodied with bright acidity and powdery tannins. Dried cherries and sweet strawberries. Juicy.
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.