Since the replanting of this site in 1990, the Morot domaine has recouped only one barrique plus one feuillette’s worth of 2005 Beaune Greves, which is too bad, since the wine is excellent. Salted and smoked meat aromas lead to a rich, chalk-infused, creamily-textured meat stock impression on the palate, and a striking and satisfying finish of roasted meats, plum pit, chalk and bacon. Greves here has always been a very carnal, mineral Pinot – never about fruits and berries.This tightly-constructed wine has its act together today – and is clearly holding a lot in reserve. (I’m still holding one bottle of the 1964, a wine that was shipped to the U.S. with the first batch of Morot wines around 1984 and that performed spectacularly at age 25.) Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry reports that vine stress was becoming an issue in mid-September, so he picked his crop in just a few days. And speaking of haste, new stainless steel fermenters that replace the old wooden uprights here this year permitted Choppin to assemble and bottle all of his wines at nearly the same time, with the result that those I tasted had all either just been bottled or just prepped for imminent bottling. Around 50% new wood was employed, regardless of appellation, with the result that some wines showed overt oakiness and some did not. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083

Since the replanting of this site in 1990, the Morot domaine has recouped only one barrique plus one feuillette’s worth of 2005 Beaune Greves, which is too bad, since the wine is excellent. Salted and smoked meat aromas lead to a rich, chalk-infused, creamily-textured meat stock impression on the palate, and a striking and satisfying finish of roasted meats, plum pit, chalk and bacon. Greves here has always been a very carnal, mineral Pinot – never about fruits and berries.This tightly-constructed wine has its act together today – and is clearly holding a lot in reserve. (I’m still holding one bottle of the 1964, a wine that was shipped to the U.S. with the first batch of Morot wines around 1984 and that performed spectacularly at age 25.) Geoffrey Choppin de Janvry reports that vine stress was becoming an issue in mid-September, so he picked his crop in just a few days. And speaking of haste, new stainless steel fermenters that replace the old wooden uprights here this year permitted Choppin to assemble and bottle all of his wines at nearly the same time, with the result that those I tasted had all either just been bottled or just prepped for imminent bottling. Around 50% new wood was employed, regardless of appellation, with the result that some wines showed overt oakiness and some did not.Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083