Ladoix 1er Cru La Corvee, Domaine Jean Guiton

Note:

A pretty deep colour for Pinot. Deep ruby and saturated crimson virtually to the rim. No surprise that this is full-bodied. Deep and barrel-chested. Very primary morello cherry, blackberry and damson fruit. Cool, dark, sweet, structured and fresh with lovely acidity – and tannins which are perfectly covered in an absolute wave of fruit. Gosh. At first I wondered if lots of fruit was ‘it’ ? But gradually (over the evening and into the next couple of days open) the savoury notes emerged, the violet and chalky minerality. This is profound red Burgundy, made in quite an extracted style…..but brilliantly executed IMO. To me, a potential problem with more extracted Pinot is that you (can) loose the sensation of place and vineyard. As you step up in appellation hierarchy, you just get more and more concentration – but little individuality. I found that about the (famous) Mortet wines of the 90s for example. However; the very best producers of more extracted Burgundian Pinot (eg Leroy) do manage to achieve deep colours, rich fruit and great aromatic individuality. This, I think, falls into that camp (as was shown when I tasted the next wine a few days later). A disclaimer. This wine has 14.5% alcohol on the label. Which is hard (for me anyway) to believe as it tastes fresh and excellently balanced – as well as rich. A kick-in-the-nuts to one of my pet theories about what constitutes great Burgundy then…. As no doubt, this is a rich, concentrated classic.