Winemaker Notes
This wine is all about harmony—a harmony of red berries, fragrant flowers, sweet and savor spices, and a wonderful concentration and nerve. The marriage of these essences culminates into a juicy, gamey and supple palate and an impressive, lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Morey-Saint-Denis Clos des Ormes 1er Cru includes 25% whole bunch with 25% new oak. The strongly marine influenced nose offers blackberry, iodine and light seaweed aromas. The palate is well balanced with fine mineralite, quite chalky in texture, with a find bead of acidity and a very nicely poised finish. It fans out nicely with aeration and should evolve into an excellent, quite finessed Morey-Saint-Denis.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Jasper Morris
Made with 25% each of whole bunches and new wood. Rich purple, slightly backward nose, ripe fruit that is proving difficult to tease out. Rather more stylish at first on the palate, then a slightly more baked fruit behind, saved by some acidity to finish. OK but take a look at Les Millandes for preference, or better still the Genaivrières.
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.”
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.