Winemaker Notes
These old vines are grown on Clos de l'Arlot's vineyard at the bottom end of the 'monopole's' slope. They were planted between 1939 and 1951. Here, the soils are composed of marl mixed in with limestone and gravel.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Still very youthful and a tad shy, but there’s no mistaking this is a sophisticated wine for the village with subtle sour cherry and red berry aromas plus hints of summer flowers and blood oranges. At once compact, concentrated and elegant on the medium-bodied palate. Excellent drive in the long, sleek and stony finish. From biodynamically grown grapes.
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Jasper Morris
This cuvée now covers all the plots, as La Gerbotte is included in Arlot, given that the vines are now 30 year old after all. Racked to tank but neither fined nor filtered yet. 25% new wood just features lightly on the nose, rather more evident on the palate. There is adequate concentration of white fruit, with a saline apple finish. The oak needs to calm down, as I am sure it will.
Barrel Sample: 89-92
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.”
Inhabiting the bottom end of the northern half of the Côte d’Or, Nuits-St-Georges is a busy, market-driven town and home to many of Burgundy’s negociants. It is also the largest town in the Côte d’Or after Beaune and contributes "nuits" to the name of Côte de Nuits (i.e., the northern half of the Côte d’Or).
The appellation itself is divided into two parts, where in the north it directly borders Vosne-Romanée, the southerly end is the commune of Prémeaux. There are no Grands Crus in this village, though it does have a large number of Premiers Crus.
The best Nuits-St-Georges Pinot Noir are layered with cherry, plum, underbrush and sandalwood. The fruit is sweet, the wine energetic, and the finish long and lush.