Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with delicate meat dishes as well as most cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This small vineyard forms part of the Jadot estate. Its rich tannins and black-cherry fruits are sumptuous and already delicious. However there is much more to this structured, tannic and dense wine that will give it a great future. It is broad, rich and likely to be ready to drink from 2024.
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Decanter
The Clos des Ursules, an enclave within the premier cru Vignes Franches, is the most elegant of Jadot's Beaune premier crus in 2015. Notes of red and black cherries, woodsmoke, subtle espresso and cocoa introduce a refined and three-dimensional palate with lovely length and fine tannins enrobed in bright, sappy fruit. A beautifully complete wine which will blossom in bottle.
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Wine Spectator
This tightly wound red offers cherry, currant and cranberry flavors, shaded by spice and tea details. Built for the long haul, with dense tannins and a long, saturated, chalky finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Ursules is fuller and more voluminous on the nose compared to Jadot's other Beaune Premier Crus, equipped with layers of red cherry, crushed strawberry and rose petal aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with sorbet-like freshness on the entry, veins of Satsuma pith and cranberry on the mid-palate, leading to a well-knitted and quite structured finish. There's class here and it may merit a higher score with a few years of ageing.
Range: (90-92)+
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 the city represents the epicenter of wine production in Burgundy, the term, “Beaune” also refers to the specific sub-appellation of the greater Côte de Beaune, whose vineyards climb up the pastoral slopes that border the city to its west. Originally founded as a Roman camp by Julius Caesar, the city of Beaune eventually became the seat of the dukes of Burgundy until the 13th century. Today it is home to top négociants such as Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, Louis Latour, and Bouchard Père et Fils.
The appellation, dominated by Pinot Noir plantings, represents a lovely and charming place to begin to understand red Burgundy. Its sandy soils create light and supple, floral driven Pinot Noir. These wines are designed to be enjoyed within five to 10 years. The vineyards of Beaune span a broad swath of Premier Crus from Savigny-lès-Beaune to its border with Pommard.
Chardonnay acreage here has been increasing here in the more recent years.