Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lovely, creamy and polished texture to this, with a sense of soft, silky tannins. The nose and palate show white flowers and light honey with some chalk and minerals. White roses, too. It's medium-bodied with a lovely finish. Vivid. Hard to find a white from Cote de Beaune at this quality level.
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Jasper Morris
In bottle. This is a mix of the actual Côte de Beaune appellation, some Beaune Montagne Ste-Desirée and some declassified Beaune Clos des Mouches. Fresh pale colour, with a delicious bouquet including fresh lime blossom, then becomes richer on the palate, but in controlled fashion with an attractive finish with adequate acidity.
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.
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.