Winemaker Notes
Very nice ruby robe with aromas of black cherry and blackcurrant. Very rich in the mouth, very concentrated and really harmonious. Elegant, pure and complex, with very fine tannins and a beautiful structure. This wine can be kept for 20 years.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A dense, powerful red, defined as much by its vivid acidity as its muscular profile. Black cherry, blackberry, earth, iron, woodsy and sweet spice flavors combine as the finish tightens up. All the components are there. Best from 2029 through 2047. 237 cases made, 12 cases imported.
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.