100% Pinot Noir.
Colour: Intense ruby colour with purple reflections.
Nose: Bouquet of ripe red and black berries (blackcurrant-bilberries, cherries). Spicy (pepper) and delicately woody.
Palate: Velvet structure in the mouth, a well-balanced wine, powerful, fruity and spicy, delicately woody, very nice volume: a racy wine;
This wine is an ideal accompaniment to meat that is both tasty and virile (roast lamb, rib of beef, duck breast, game), but also certain fish such as carp in a red wine matelote and also soft, washed-rind cheeses (Époisses, Langres or Soumaintrain).
Serve ideally at 16-17°C. (60-62°F.).
It will keep easily for ten years in good conditions.
At the centre of the Côte de Nuits wine-growing districts in Burgundy, between Beaune and Dijon, Nuits-Saint-Georges comprises two parts: the north towards Vosne Romanée to the Combe de la Serrée is an area of hillsides, the south as far as the commune of Premeaux is an area of plateaux. This vineyard includes 41 Premiers Crus, covers 306 hectares and produces mainly red wines (only 10 hectares are planted with Chardonnay).
The soil is marl-limestone silt with rock outcrops towards the top / East-facing / Gentle slope at the bottom of the hillside and steeper as it rises / Altitude between 280 and 330m.
The grapes are sorted during the harvest and on arrival at the winery. They are then destemmed and placed in vats for a pre-fermentation cold maceration (8-10°C) lasting 5 to 6 days. Alcoholic fermentation then begins, reaching temperatures of around 33°C.
The wine is placed in oak barrels for maturation and ageing for around 14 months (50% new barrels) to give the wine its natural complexity. The wine is then blended and bottled.
2020 was notable for its mildness and low rainfall. After a winter with no serious frosts, we went straight into a spring dominated by sunny, dry weather, resulting in very early bud break. Infrequent outbreaks of rain in June and July were not enough to stave off water shortages.
Very high summer temperatures combined with intense sun exposure levels led to the vines gradually falling prey to hydric stress, causing delays to fruit ripening before harvest-time.
Once again, the vegetative cycle was shortened, being almost three weeks ahead of 2019’s. Thankfully, the harvest was saved by the relative cool of the nights. The harvest was of marvelous quality but there was very little juice in the red grapes (reduction of 30 to 50%), and reasonable potential alcohol, despite the heat.
The whites, on the other hand, coped very well with these extreme conditions and yields were very good.
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