Winemaker Notes
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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Vinous
The 2021 Beaune Les Grèves 1er Cru, picked on the first day of picking, has slightly darker fruit than the Clos du Roi, but there is still a sense of delineation and transparency that makes it very alluring. The palate is medium-bodied with dark cherries, bergamot and bay leaf. It's nicely structured with a bit of sinew on the finish. This is very promising.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Jasper Morris
Slightly paler in colour, mid crimson. A more reticent bouquet with some substance behind, one suspects. Good intensity here, all in fresh red fruit, acidity adds to the energy and there is enough fruit concentration to sit well with the oak. Agreeably persistent. Drink from 2025-2030.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
Piercing stone, peony, kirsch, cherry and spice scents highlight this tense, elegant red. Super silky, with plenty of structure to allow this to age, plus a long aftertaste infused with fruit, mineral and spice notes. Best from 2026 through 2042. 270 cases made, 42 cases imported.
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.