Winemaker Notes
An outstanding wine. Pale yellow color. Complex floral nose of white lilac and white rose. Once open, fruity aromas come to the fore, evolving towards grilled hazelnut and almond. When the wine is more mature, the nose is surprisingly strong and fifteen minutes of aeration produce wonderful notes of white truffle, citron (cedrat), honey and nutmeg, elegantly meshed together. Very lively on the palate. Its rich texture is in evidence, but also its structure and minerality. It is round, but never heavy. Harmonious fullness in the aftertaste. This wine allies remarkably the complexity and elegance of a Bâtard-Montrachet with the power of a Corton-Charlemagne.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Fresh light lemon colour. The bouquet indicates a little more flesh, as is typical, but not at the expense of precision. As always this is extraordinarily intense on the palate, not yet as fleshy as it will become, but one can see into the future. Fine fruit and acid balance too, of course. 13.7% alcohol which makes sense for Clos des Mouches. Barrel Sample: (93-96)
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James Suckling
It’s a rare white wine from a mostly red appellation, but Drouhin owns 14 hectares of Clos des Mouches and half of those are chardonnay. So rich, broad and ripe at first, and then braced by vivid, tangy acidity that brings out subtle nutmeg, ginger and toast accents. What a delicious, balanced and refreshing wine.
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Wine Spectator
Pure, velvety and evoking black cherry, blackberry, violet, sandalwood and mineral aromas and flavors, this red is lushly textured and harmonious. Guided by vibrant acidity that drives the saturated aftertaste. Offers superb balance and length.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of buttered orchard fruit, orange blossom, baking spices and toasted nuts introduce the 2022 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc (Domaine), with a medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny palate that's fleshy and layered while retaining nice tension and cut. The Drouhin's seven hectares of Chardonnay in this premier cru were harvested over 15 days.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Decanter
The highly esteemed white Clos des Mouches from Drouhin boasts marvellous aromas of ripe pear, hazelnut, acacia and beeswax along with the lovely, slightly bitter notes French tasters call 'beaux amers'. There is an elegant structure and enough freshness to ensure long ageing. The wine is assembled from 35 parcels covering roughly seven hectares; the domaine spends ten days picking the grapes – four different days for the white alone. The fruit is fermented in cask (25% new) and aged over two winters before bottling.
Barrel Sample: 93
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
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.