Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Clos de l’Arlot was sampled from a preprepared blend of barrels. It includes 50% whole cluster fruit and the same percentage of new oak. It has a crisp, precise, wet stone-tinged bouquet with vivid Morello, redcurrant and crushed strawberry fruit. It is not a powerful bouquet but prioritizes precision. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin. The fruit is a mixture of black and red, but there's quite a conspicuous graphite element that flourishes on the finish. With impressive persistence in the mouth, this is a more masculine Clos de l’Arlot than previous years and will benefit from several years in bottle. Top notch.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
This sleek red announces itself with smoky, spicy aromas and black cherry, plum, sandalwood and incense flavors. Vibrant acidity backs this up, with a lingering, complex finish. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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.