Winemaker Notes
Les Grèves is voluptuous and structured with aromas and flavors of bright red fruit and mineral notes. The flavor is intense and powerful but is delivered on the palate with finesse. Aging in 30% new Burgundian pièce brings notes of vanilla and spice. The vines were planted between 1969 and 1987.
Red Burgundy might be the world’s most flexible food wine. The wine’s high acidity, medium body, medium alcohol, and low tannins make it very food-friendly. Red Burgundy, with its earthy and sometimes gamey character, is a classic partner to roasted game birds, grilled duck breast, and dishes that feature mushrooms, black truffles, or are rich in umami.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Impressive. This wine captivates with remarkable tension and vitality. The nose entices with profuse strawberries, blackberries, red cherries and wild thyme, all elegantly embraced by clove and refined oak spice.
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Wine Spectator
Packs intense, fruity flavors of black cherry, kirsch and cassis wrapped in a toasty spice embrace. Featuring a fleshy texture that easily absorbs the fine-grained tannins, this cruises to a long, fruit-stained aftertaste.
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Jasper Morris
A rich deep purple. Sultry and summery, but we are not far from the raisins. Usefully fresher on the palate with a good backbone from acidity and balanced tannins, but at the end the headiness of the fruit has just sailed a little past the optimum point. There is an awful lot going on but hard to judge the balance.
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Vinous
The 2020 Beaune Grèves ler Cru falls below my expectations from barrel, though it's by no means a poor showing. It begins well. It has a fresher bouquet than others, with lifted red cherry and wild strawberry scents. The oak is nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins. It's crisp with just a little heat on the back palate. Short on the finish.
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.