Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru includes 70% whole-bunch fruit with 30% new oak. It has a very exuberant, typical bouquet for this vineyard that goes out of its way to please: copious black cherries, griottes and crushed violet aromas all demanding attention. The palate is sweet and supple on the entry with saturated tannin counterbalanced by a fine bead of acidity, harmonious and linear at first, then fanning out on the second half with lightly peppered black fruit. There is a very long aftertaste here and you can sense the presence of this wine 45 to 60 seconds after it has departed.
Barrel Sample: 95-97
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.”
While Morey-St-Denis of Burgundy might not get the same attention as its neighbors, Gevrey-Chambertin to the north and Chambolle-Musigny to the south, there is no reason why it shouldn’t. The same line of limestone runs from the Combe de Lavaux in Gevrey—all the way through Morey—ending in Chambolle.
There are four grand cru vineyards, moving southwards from the border with Gevrey-Chambertin: Clos de la Roche, Clos St-Denis, Clos des Lambrays, Clos de Tart and a small segment of Bonnes-Mares overlapping from Chambolle. Clos de la Roche is probably the finest vineyard, giving wines of true depth, body, and sturdiness for the long haul than most other vineyards.
Pinot Noir from Morey-St-Denis is known for its deep red cherry, blackcurrant and blueberry fruit. Aromas of spice, licorice and purple flowers are present in the wines’ youth, evolving to forest and game as the wine ages.