Winemaker Notes
The color is very full, with an assertive tone (bright ruby, carmine, intense garnet) with purplish reflections. The bouquet is divided between black fruits (blackcurrant, blueberry) and red stone fruits (cherry). It has variations such as sloe, bramble, violet, carnation, licorice, brandy fruits. Strong and structured, this wine awaits you on the palate with a firm footing. The right balance between the strength of the body and the expression of the fruit. A tenor voice in the Burgundy choir, it knows how to round off its tannins and offer generous flesh.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Cuvée des Alouettes offers up lovely aromas of red plums, rose petals and candied peel that mingle with incipient savory nuances of grilled squab and forest floor. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and incisive, with excellent concentration, fine-grained and chalky tannins, and above all a bright, vibrant quality that lends this Morey fabulous definition. It will need some time, as it's much more tight-knit than the Morey village.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine caught the attention of the panel for its “beautiful, bright red fruit” and “pretty perfume.” “I’d spend money on this one,” said Mariko Kobayashi of Frankly Wines. That red fruit is bright and zesty, with a curranty tang and some youthfully hard tannic edges. The wine’s coolness is refreshing, and should protect it in the cellar.
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.