Winemaker Notes
An exceptional wine. Beautiful, deep-red ruby color, with the bright sheen of great Burgundies. Intense and fresh nose for the young wines. Primary notes of red fruit dominate, such as Morello cherry ("griotte", or wild cherry), raspberry, blackberry. There are hints of complexity with smoky flavors evolving towards licorice. When the wine is maturing, aromas of pepper, tobacco, humus and undergrowth appear. When drinking the wine, the first impression is always clear-cut and the texture fleshy. The body is firm without being rough, well meshed without being heavy. There is great freshness in the younger wines. With age, the wine gets rounder. It takes on "gras" (velvety texture) and a more precise architecture, supported by silky tannins. It is lively and refined at the same time. There remains a final and most pleasing sensation of harmony, fullness and delicate tannins, as the wine lingers on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This rich, powerful and juicy wine is just bursting out of its wood aging bounds. It has opulent red-berry flavors, a core of firm tannins and intense acidity. Ripe and fruity, this is full of aging potential.
Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Beaune Clos des Mouches Rouge has an engaging spicy, peppery nose while the palate is vibrant with crisp tannins and displays greater focus than its white namesake this year. Crunchy red fruit in the mouth with a long spicy finish that leaves the mouth tingling. This is an excellent Beaune in possession of the backbone to age.
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Wine & Spirits
This 35-acre, mid-slope holding in the Clos des Mouches has been part of the Drouhin family domaine since the 1920s. Half pinot noir, it had been farmed organically since 1990, prior to being converted to biodynamics. The vineyard gave a deep, saturated red in 2010; its black cherry flavors have the meatiness of roast squab. Scents of kelp and crushed seashells brighten the wine, bringing out the spicy dynamism in its flavors. Built to cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Reductive aromas of smoke and earth give way to bright cherry and spice flavors in this red, with lovely texture. Though not powerful, there's a density and texture to the tannins that bodes well for the future.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.