Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The superb 2016 Clos de Tart Grand Cru confirms the promise it showed from barrel, unfurling in the glass with a striking bouquet of raspberries, rose petals, blood orange, black tea, spices and smoked meats. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, pure and ample, with a deep core of vibrant, searingly intense fruit that entirely cloaks its structuring chassis of satiny tannin, concluding with a long and captivatingly floral finish. More elegant and transparent than the richer and fleshier 2015, this is an exceptional vintage for Clos de Tart. That there are fully 27,000 bottles makes this one of Burgundy's rare confluence of quality and quantity.
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Decanter
The Clos de Tart 2016 is really quite special, and after the technically perfect but soulless wines of the Pitiot-era, it is refreshing to taste a wine at this address that pulls at the heartstrings as well as the head. Aromas of peony, plum, red cherry, roast espresso and incipient gamebird precede a full-bodied, ineffably complete wine with superb depth and dimension, velvety tannins and a deep core of fruit. Concentrated but elegant, this has attained a superb balance. Jacques Devauges has clearly hit the ground running at this storied address.
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.”
While Morey-St-Denis of Burgundy might not get the same attention as its neighbors, Gevrey-Chambertin to the north and Chambolle-Musigny to the south, there is no reason why it shouldn’t. The same line of limestone runs from the Combe de Lavaux in Gevrey—all the way through Morey—ending in Chambolle.
There are four grand cru vineyards, moving southwards from the border with Gevrey-Chambertin: Clos de la Roche, Clos St-Denis, Clos des Lambrays, Clos de Tart and a small segment of Bonnes-Mares overlapping from Chambolle. Clos de la Roche is probably the finest vineyard, giving wines of true depth, body, and sturdiness for the long haul than most other vineyards.
Pinot Noir from Morey-St-Denis is known for its deep red cherry, blackcurrant and blueberry fruit. Aromas of spice, licorice and purple flowers are present in the wines’ youth, evolving to forest and game as the wine ages.