Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
From 99 year old vines! Glowing purple. Super sensual sweet raspberry, yet with restraint, and with structure, and just enough of both tannin and acidity. Perfect long harmonious finish. Barrel Sample 93-95
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Decanter
A wine of extraordinary concentration, displaying a nose that melds ripe black and red fruit, with spicy, savoury and mineral tones plus hints of smoke. The texture is infinitely supple and rich, yet in no way heavy and the finish lingers seductively on the palate – a moreish wine if ever there was one. Produced from the domaine's oldest vines - 99 years of age in 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Lafarge's 99-year-old vines have turned in a terrific effort with the 2020 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves. Mingling aromas of dark berries and cherries with hints of rose petals, raw cocoa and forest floor, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with ripe, powdery tannins and lively acids. It's a touch more enveloping and expansive in style than the more tensile Clos des Aigrots, a fine distinction that I suspect will become more apparent with bottle age. Barrel Sample: (92-94)+
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 the city represents the epicenter of wine production in Burgundy, the term, “Beaune” also refers to the specific sub-appellation of the greater Côte de Beaune, whose vineyards climb up the pastoral slopes that border the city to its west. Originally founded as a Roman camp by Julius Caesar, the city of Beaune eventually became the seat of the dukes of Burgundy until the 13th century. Today it is home to top négociants such as Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, Louis Latour, and Bouchard Père et Fils.
The appellation, dominated by Pinot Noir plantings, represents a lovely and charming place to begin to understand red Burgundy. Its sandy soils create light and supple, floral driven Pinot Noir. These wines are designed to be enjoyed within five to 10 years. The vineyards of Beaune span a broad swath of Premier Crus from Savigny-lès-Beaune to its border with Pommard.
Chardonnay acreage here has been increasing here in the more recent years.