Winemaker Notes
Situated on the same terroir as the white wine of the same name, the Pinots in the Genièvrières have been planted in three different places: two on quite shallow soil cover, bringing structure to the wine; and the third on terraces that have more soil cover, giving a fruitier side to the wine. The wines from these three areas are blended into one cuvee, Les Genièvrières Rouge. This wine has the elegance and minerality to warrant being aged.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Geniévrières unwinds in the glass with notes of peonies, sweet red berries and plums. Medium to full-bodied, deep and sapid, with lively acids and powdery tannins, it concludes with a saline, perfumed finish. This Pinot Noir was vinified with 80% whole clusters and saw 18 months' élevage, and readers should plan on forgetting it in the cellar for a few years, as it's built to age.
Rating : 90+
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.”
These are the fun, fruit-driven and lively Chardonnays of white Burgundy, often offering some fantastic values and options that you don’t have to cellar. Flavors range from fresh green apple and lemon to melon or pineapple; some of the best are fleshy and mineral driven or balanced by a light touch of oak.
Mâconnais Chardonnay may have the weight of their more serious Côte de Beaune sisters, but not quite the refinement. Still, this appellation is one of the best ways to jump from California Chardonnay to something new and begin to understand white Burgundy.
The Mâconnais region is warmer and drier than the rest of Burgundy to its north (Côte d’Or) and has a landscape of rolling hills and farmland interspersed among vineyards. The region produces a lot of Chardonnay—Viré-Clessé and Pouilly-Fuisse are among the best—and a very small amount of red wine from Gamay and Pinot Noir. The soils of Mâconnais remain limestone dominant like in the Côte d’Or, making it a wonderful spot for Chardonnay to thrive. Gamay's home of Beaujolais lies just to the south.