Côte de Beaune

Like its close neighbour and kin of the Beaune appellation, the red wine of the Côte de Beaune is a straight ruby colour with a hint of mauve highlights.
The nose is straightforward (small red fruits and notes of animal, humus and underbrush), and preludes a round and seductive palate with just the right degree of acidity to ensure some keeping potential. Its texture is firm without severity, flavorful and captivating.
The white (from the Chardonnay grape) has everything that it should have: vivacity, brilliance, and intense gold colour. The bouquet features citrus and freshly-mown grass. Rounded and supple, it has good backing from the acidity. It charms the palate with its fruit plus a touch of minerality, and finishes, frequently, on hazelnut.

Chorey-les-Beaune (red) is a light and supple red wine is moderately tannic but rich and characterful. Quite vividly coloured, it is often dark crimson with purplish highlights. The nose is dominated by small red fruits (raspberry, Morello cherry) and black fruits (blackberry) set off by notes of liquorice and underbrush. With age it evolves towards strawberry preserves and gingerbread with animal and leather notes. It is well-built with noticeably elegant tannins. Its well-rounded structure leaves an aftertaste of fruit on the palate. The whites are light gold in colour and the aromas of the Chardonnay recall white flowers, hazelnut and lemon-grass. Rather lively when young, this well fruited wine quite rapidly acquires a smoothness which evolves into worthy body, length and lusciousness.

Pommard (red) Beware of preconceived notions! The fame of Pommard in the 19th century earned it the image of a wine that is both forceful and virile. In reality, time, terroir and methods of vinification have all combined to create a more subtle reality, a wine that is both richer and more sensitive. Its colour is the deep, dark red with mauve highlights which caused Victor Hugo to speak of it as “night in combat with day”. Its aromas are redolent of blackberry, bilberry, or gooseberry, cherry pit and ripe plum. Often, wild and feline notes develop with age. At full maturity, it tends towards leather, chocolate and pepper. It needs to be given time to open up to its fullest extent and to display its mouth-filling texture, its firm but delicate structure, its fruit-filled mouth, and its chewy tannins, which by then will be properly smoothed down. A “rich” wine? Certainly.

Meursault (white) There are observable but minor differences between the wines of the different Climats (named plots). In most cases, Meursault is greeny-gold in colour or canary yellow, leaning towards bronze as it ages. Limpid and brilliant, it sometimes exhibits silvery highlights. Its bouquet has strong aromas of ripe grapes. The young wine is redolent of toasted almonds and hazelnuts in a floral (mayflower, elder, bracken, lime, verbena) and mineral (flint) setting. Butter, honey, and citrus fruits are also present. On the palate it is rich and fat with a cheerful and appealing taste of hazelnut. Unctuousness and freshness are in silky balance. Long and structured, it needs time to mature - this is a great white wine for laying down.

Saint-Aubin (white) varies according to where it is grown and in what year. When young, it combines aromas of white flowers, flint, green almond, and orangeflower.
Richer fragrances come with age: beeswax and honey, marzipan, ambergris, and cinnamon. This is a firm and flattering wine - a bit sharp to start with but which becomes fleshier and fuller with time. This is a wine with real breeding.

(red) this wine is dark garnet or crimson colour, with strawberry cheeks. Its aromas are redolent of blackcurrant, Morello cherry, blackberry. These are set off by spicy notes, sometimes mocha. In the mouth it is fat and silky with a lively finish. Age adds suppleness, warmth and persistence.

Chassagne-Montrachet (white) this wine is the chardonnay grape dressed in glittering gold! It boasts firm coloration with green highlights. Aromas of mayflower, acacia, and honeysuckle blend with verbena and hazelnut and in some cases toast or fresh butter. This wine boasts a profound minerality (flint). Age brings in notes of honey or ripe pear. Rounded and often opulent, its attack is instantaneous. On the palate, fleshiness is matched by mellowness, and both are equally persistent.