Winemaker Notes
This very pleasant wine displays a bright, clear red color with surprisingly intense and fruity aromas. On the palate, it is tender, supple, and graceful, with a round body and a flavorful finish hinting at blackberry jam. With age, wild blackberry becomes the dominant aroma, and after three to five years, the wine develops distinctive notes of truffle, undergrowth, and eventually hints of venison.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
From Drouhin's own parcel augmented by purchased fruit, the 2021 Chorey-lès-Beaune has attractive brambly red fruit intermixed with tertiary scents. More vigour than the Rully. The palate is vivid with red cherries and crushed strawberry, with fine depth. Though not earth-shattering in complexity, this has a joie-de-vivre that I appreciate. This could well represent great value.
Barrel Sample: 89-91
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 source of some of the most delightful Pinot Noir in Beaune, Chorey-les-Beaune is a great place to start exploring red Burgundies that do not command a great deal of cellar time. In style, they are akin to the reds of Aloxe-Corton but more fruit forward and approachable in their youth.