Winemaker Notes
Brilliant ruby. The aromas are crisp with notes of fresh red fruits with a chalky note. Fresh linear fruit initially on the palate, medium weight on the middle palate with a smooth, subtle finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This needs a moment in the glass to throw off a hint of funk, but then it opens up to reveal generous red and blue fruit with plenty of savory notes. There’s an interplay of lively acidity, restrained tannins and delicate spices on the medium-bodied palate. Then comes the rooty and mushroomy character in the harmonious finish. Drink or hold.
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.”
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.