Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
In the best Amoureuses tradition, the 2019 vintage from Groffier is immensely seductive. There are gorgeous ripe blackberry, mulberry and pomegranate fruit aromas suffused with rose petals and hints of earth. The texture is lush and voluminous, yet a core of lively acidity ensures that the wine remains in dynamic balance. Nicolas Groffier has made great use of his hectare of Amoureuses this year—this should be approachable young, but there is also the substance to age for decades.
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Vinous
The 2019 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1er Cru is aged in 25% new oak with 50% whole bunches. This Amoureuses is quite arresting on the nose with intense black cherries, violet, sous-bois and graphite aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with muscular tannins and good grip with an overtly saline finish. You can feel the shucked oyster shells in this wine and it has a tremendously long aftertaste. Excellent.
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Jasper Morris
A powerful magenta crimson colour. The bouquet shows quite a lot of oak, with a concentration of fruit behind. This is taking time to build but does display a sense of majesty. Exceptionally backward. Slight green acidity at the finish which is not quite in harmony at this stage. This is nonetheless a very powerful wine which is not easy to read at the moment.
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.”
Chambolle-Musigny represents the charm of the Côte de Nuits district of Burgundy. But you’ll find that term mainly in reference to the vineyards in its southern stretches, which border Clos Vougeot: the Grand Cru of Le Musingy and in part, its neighboring and most exceptional Premier Cru, Les Amoureuses. Some producers argue for the primacy of Les Amoureuses and its eligibility for Grand Cru status given its wines can sometimes surpass other Grands Crus.
Le Musigny ranks on par with the most acclaimed Grands Crus for Pinot Noir: Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, Richebourg, Chambertin, and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. It is also the only Grand Cru in Côte de Nuits for Chardonnay. All of the others are in Côte de Beaune.
This village can in fact claim only two Grands Crus vineyards and—in the context of breaking down the minutiae—they are markedly different. Bonnes-Mares, the other one at the far northern end above the village, bordering Morey-St-Denis, offers power, strength and great aging potential. But Chambolle-Musigny includes a nice handful of exceptional Premiers Crus, as noted above with Les Amoureuses as the finest. Le Fuees and Les Cras are other noteworthy Premiers Crus.
Overall, a top Chambolle-Musigny offers pure aromas of violets, dark cherry and damp earth, coupled with a velvety elegance, supple mid-palate, an abundance of black and red berry, and finesse and power through a long and fine-grained finish.