CoolVines

This classic Mercurey Pinot Noir is deep in color, ripe yet elegant and impressively persistent. This is not only the result of excellent terroir, but conscientious, skilled winemaking. A fantastic value for a Premier Cru Burgundy, the 2009 is drinking beautifully now.

Mercurey's climate is considered to be of continental type, with warm, long summers and relatively dry fall months, making for an excellent growing season and harvest period. The only threat to local viticulture is the particularly cool winters, which can often last longer than in neighboring areas. Although supposedly warmer than more northerly communes, the appellation's hilly topography and slightly increased altitude moderate the temperatures, allowing the wines to retain a certain freshness.

In Mercurey, a village nestled in Burgundy on the famous Cote Chalonnaise, the Michel Julliot Estate, which has existed for four generations, cultivates 30 hectares of vines producing a large selection of the best “climats” Mercurey has to offer as well as several Côte de Beaune crus. As Michel and Laurent Juillot’s wines are referenced by a great number of Michelin starred restaurants and guaranteed by the many prizes and medals they have been awarded, the Estate’s production singularly demonstrates a philosophy of quality upheld by a family of wine makers who not only admire, but also respect their terroir.

The great wines of Burgundy are uniquely complex, compelling and at times memorizing. Above all they are evocative, transformative but like all creatures, temperamental and anything but dependable. Two grapes dominate this agricultural masterpiece, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Both grapes achieve their greatest elegance when planted in cooler climates, to which Burgundy is the coolest and most Northern climate of all the major regions famous for red wines. When winemakers talk about Burgundy, they generally speak of terroir, the compilation of the vineyard's soil, slope, orientation, nuance of climate, etc. This concept of terroir is what makes wines produced from grapes even in the same village or vineyard strikingly different. Burgundy is a place of legend, awe and adventure, a place that wine lovers call home.