Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jasper Morris
Crimson purple with a slightly lighter rim. There is a generous weight of dark strawberry fruit with a little pepper. Harmonious, with the fruit covering the stems a little more fully than the previous wine, giving a more sensual feel but less tension.
-
James Suckling
This has a compelling nose of cherry fruit, cloves, spice box, dried flowers and bark. Long, pure and focused, with a medium body and very fine and coating tannins. Hard to resist already.
-
Vinous
The 2020 Morey-Saint-Denis Les Chaffots ler Cru has a slight torrefactory element on the nose with touches of charcoal infusing the red fruit. It actually coheres nicely in the glass and gains more freshness. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, a crisp line of acidity, a little savory in style, dried blood and black peppers. It just loses its way toward the finish.
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.