Beaune 1er Cru “Clos du Roi” 2020

The Tollot-Beaut family Domaine is based at Chorey-Les-Beaune, often thought of as a slightly old-fashioned backwater. Their vineyard holdings, however, extend to Beaune, Savigny, Aloxe-Corton and a tiny holding in the Corton Charlemagne vineyard. The hallmark of their wines is a striking purity of fruit - the reds display a truly succulent quality supported (but never dominated) by judicious use of oak. It is now Nathalie Tollot who is in charge, alongside other members of this extensive family.

Pinot Noir has very aromatic profile, very fresh acidity and low level of quaite soft tannins. The nature of Pinot Noir wine is its flavors of red berries and cherry (red sour cherries in lighter wines and cooked black cherries in bold examples). This wine matures very exating, developing notes of berry jam, violets, leather, moss and mushrooms.

Beaune is the epicenter of Burgundy's wine trade and the second largest town in the Côte d'Or wine region. The name also applies to an appellation for both whites from Chardonnay and mainly reds from the Pinot Noir grape variety.   The town gives its name to the Côte de Beaune, the southern half of the Côte d’Or escarpment. Nuits-Saint-Georges has the same honor with respect to the Côte de Nuits.   Beaune wines have always been predominantly Pinot Noir reds. Recently, though, with growing international demand for Chardonnay, the town has increased its production of white wine. Nearly 300,000 bottles of white Beaune wine are now made under the commune's appellation each year, although this still represents just 20 percent of the total output.   The reds for which the town is better known strike a middle ground in a wine tasting of Burgundy Pinot Noirs. They are not as rich or "masculine" as those from Pommard, immediately to the south, nor as structured as the grand cru wines from Corton, immediately to the north.   The Beaune appellation has an unusually high proportion of premier cru-classified vineyards. More than 40 stretching in an uninterrupted belt across the commune from north to south.   For centuries, Beaune has been intrinsically associated with Burgundy's wines. This was so much the case that, before the formalization of France's appellation system, its name was widely used as a generic title for any wine from the wider region. Since the creation of the AOC Beaune appellation in 1936, only wines from Beaune vineyards have been able to use the name.

Burgundy (Bourgogne) can be confusing because of the multiplicity of its appellations - all the small vineyards are divided between multiple producers so it can often be difficult to understand this diversity. However, it is the exact reason why the wines of Burgundy are considered to be the finest in the world. A common topic of discussion, when talking about Burgundy, is the concept of "terroir" - a unique combination of soil and climate conditions that affects the taste of wine in the appellations, making it unique to each village. Winemakers mainly use the capricious Pinot Noir and the classical Chardonnay to create true masterpieces, while Gamay and Aligote are used to make wines of a bit simpler style. Particular attention should be paid to the hierarchy of wines. First there are the regional and village wines, a step higher - the Premier Cru wines and the outstanding Grand Cru - at the top. Due the complex and inconsistent weather that can notably impact wine quality especially in bad harvest years, a very important factor here is the so called millesime - the harvest year of the grapes the particular wine is produced of, because each of these years has its own unique taste. Purchasing Burgundy wines is not easy because there are many details that should be taken into consideration - the class of the vineyard, the assessment of the manufacturer, the age of the vines, the quality of the wine as well as the millesime and, of course, the potential of ageing. The sellers play a big role here - they must be truly passionate about wine and able to offer only the best quality producers with a good reputation. That is exactly the way "Noble Wine" works!