Winemaker Notes
Serve with roasted poultry, grilled meats and soft cheeses, such as Reblochon or Brie.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very floral and fresh with crushed raspberries and flowers. Medium-to full-bodied, dense and silky. Beautiful and layered. Lovely texture.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cote de Beaune Rouge is often my recommendation for Drouhin's "insider" choice for those on a budget. It has a pretty redcurrant and cranberry-scented bouquet with commendable purity that is almost Gevrey-Chambertin in style. The palate is medium-bodied with chalky tannin. It feels a little rigid at the moment, however that is compensated for with fine tension and freshness on the finish. Bet your bottom dollar that this will end up being great value.
Range: (88-90) -
Wine Spectator
A fluid, vibrant red, this offers cherry, currant and earth flavors. With a supple texture and fine balance, this adds up to an enticing and elegant style. Drink now through 2022. 800 cases imported.
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.