Winemaker Notes
The 2016 crop was low in quantity but its quality provides a nice surprise. The mature grapes gave deep ruby-colored wines displaying notes of black fruit mingled with hints of violet and spices. The palate is round and generous. The wines are typical of their terroir. Fine lace and silk are the words most often associated with this wine. Bright, intense color and complex aromas evoking violet, black cherry and damp earth. According to the vintages, there are also notes of truffle and game. Refined tannins coat the palate. Good balance between texture and acidity. Long aftertaste, with notes of cherry and candied fruit.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This premier cru blend, like its Vosne-Romanée counterpart, is very fine this year, offering up a lovely nose of creamy red fruit, venison and forest floor. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and intense, its fine, chalky tannins cloaked in a rich, deep core of succulent fruit. This should age superbly. Drinking Window 2024 - 2038
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James Suckling
Very vivid and aromatic with perfume and floral character. Sliced strawberries and lemons. Medium to full body, firm and silky tannins and delicious aftertastes of fruit, hazelnut and light chocolate. Drink in 2021.
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Wine Spectator
An alluring expression of pure cherry, strawberry and currant fruit, plus floral and spice notes, highlights this elegant red. A firm structure underlies it all, boding well for future development. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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.”
Chambolle-Musigny represents the charm of the Côte de Nuits district of Burgundy. But you’ll find that term mainly in reference to the vineyards in its southern stretches, which border Clos Vougeot: the Grand Cru of Le Musingy and in part, its neighboring and most exceptional Premier Cru, Les Amoureuses. Some producers argue for the primacy of Les Amoureuses and its eligibility for Grand Cru status given its wines can sometimes surpass other Grands Crus.
Le Musigny ranks on par with the most acclaimed Grands Crus for Pinot Noir: Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, Richebourg, Chambertin, and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. It is also the only Grand Cru in Côte de Nuits for Chardonnay. All of the others are in Côte de Beaune.
This village can in fact claim only two Grands Crus vineyards and—in the context of breaking down the minutiae—they are markedly different. Bonnes-Mares, the other one at the far northern end above the village, bordering Morey-St-Denis, offers power, strength and great aging potential. But Chambolle-Musigny includes a nice handful of exceptional Premiers Crus, as noted above with Les Amoureuses as the finest. Le Fuees and Les Cras are other noteworthy Premiers Crus.
Overall, a top Chambolle-Musigny offers pure aromas of violets, dark cherry and damp earth, coupled with a velvety elegance, supple mid-palate, an abundance of black and red berry, and finesse and power through a long and fine-grained finish.