Ladoix
1er Cru Hautes Mourottes 2017
If you are coming from Dijon, it is at Ladoix that the Côte de Beaune begins. Ladoix shares with Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses the honour of producing the famous wines of the hill of Corton.
Origin
Created in 1970, there are just 94 ha of vineyards in Ladoix, ¾ of which produce red wine. The appellation features 11 Premier Cru vineyards which benefit from eastern or south-east/southern exposure with altitudes varying between 230 and 325 m. The soils at the upper part of the slope where Les Hautes Mourottes is located are pebbly, reddish, limestone based with a high proportion of marls and considerable flint-limestone fragments.
Les Hautes Mourottes is located just a few metres from the famous Corton-Renardes vineyard. In old local dialect,
Mourottes referred to walls which would indicate that the vineyard was once surrounded by walls.
Viticulture
Grape variety: pinot noir
Soils: stony, reddish and limestone. Presence of marls.
Orientation: East
Surface area under vine: 0.2055 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 49 hL/ha
Average age of the vines: 55 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 16 September 2017.
The grapes were sorted a first time in the vineyard and a second time on the sorting table when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: the grapes were 50% destemmed but not crushed (they were left whole) and were gravity-fed into tanks. Maceration with 50% whole bunches of 13 days including 3 days cold (12 ° C): Fermentation used indigenous yeasts only (no additives such as enzymes or tannins were used). Vinification without sulfur. 4 punchings of the cap.
Ageing
Maturation: aged on the lees for 16 months with no racking using a proportion of 50% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time for very delicate oaking.
Bottling
Bottling in March 2019, the wine was very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity.
Number of bottles: 1,362.
Vintage
2017 , finesse
The growing cycle was thrown off-kilter by a very cold winter, late spring frost, then optimal conditions for rapid flowering, sporadic hail, and summer drought. Harvesting began in early September in the sun, and after several lean years, the vines finally produced abundant grapes, although with significant differences in maturity between whites and reds and from one region to another, which called for strict sorting.
Ageing potential: from 7 to 12 years.
Tasting notes
The first nose is typical of the whole cluster: very floral, small red fruits appear in the background and then toasty aromas. On the palate, this full-bodied wine reveals fine tannins, length and a nice minerality on the finish.
