Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Nose of ripe cherry and pomegranate. Fresh and juicy yet silky-smooth, with lively cherry and raspberry notes and elegant structure.
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Wine & Spirits
Located halfway up the slope, neighboring Clos des Mouches, Girardin’s Aigrots fruit is packed with energy in 2018. There’s a complex weave of mineral tannins, rosemary and tobacco, black cherry and cherry blossom, some of it delicate, some of it intense. The tannins are black enough to feel tarry, a mark of the wine’s youth, a good reason to forget it in the cellar for at least five years.
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Wine Spectator
This is open and fluid, with juicy blackberry and black currant fruit setting the pace. Firms up on the finish, where the lively acidity emerges along with an earthy note and well-integrated tannins. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
Notes of ripe cherry are redolent on this wine's nose, with a faint hint of Amarena. 2018's ripeness is expresssed by generosity, showcasing ripe, luscious cherries galore. Freshness at the core ensures juiciness while supple tannins round everything out.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of dark cherries, baking chocolate and rich soil tones introduce the 2018 Beaune 1er Cru Les Aigrots, a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy wine with an ample core of fruit and powdery structuring tannins. This will offer a broad drinking window.
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.