Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Clos des Lambrays is whole bunch as usual (whereas the Morey Saint Denis is destemmed) and raised in 50% new oak. Thierry Brouin assembled my sample from four barrels scattered around the cellar, since the ventilation at one end creates variance in maturation. It has a refined bouquet with crisp leafy red berry fruit, harmonious and gaining intensity in the glass, fine mineralité underneath. The palate is well balanced with fine tannins and very well-judged acidity. This feels very harmonious with more energy and tension than the 2012, structured with a bright and vivacious finish that lingers long in the mouth. This is a classy Clos des Lambrays 2013 that should age with panache. Range: 92-94
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Wine Spectator
Spicy and aromatic, featuring sandalwood, green olive, cedar and nutmeg notes, framing cherry and currant flavors. Crisp, taut and balanced, with fine tannins adding support on the finish. Still pretty raw, but has excellent potential. Best from 2019 through 2035.
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.”
The origin of perhaps the world’s very finest Pinot Noir, Côte de Nuits is the northern half of the Côte d'Or and includes the famous wine villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux and Nuits-St-Georges.
Fine whites from Chardonnay are certainly found in the Côte de Nuits, but with much less frequency than top-performing reds made of Pinot noir. The little village of Nuits-St-Georges in its southern end gave the region its name: Côte de Nuits. The city of Dijon marks its northern border.