Domaine de l'Arlot 2014

Tasting

Deep purple colour. The bouquet is magnificent by its complexity, with scents of red and black fruit, such as strawberry, cherry, spices and violet. The wine rolls out its vigour on the palate, backed by a well-balanced structure with a long length. It should become more rounded as it matures, gaining in sensuality and elegance.

The vintage

The warm, dry spring came early this year, bringing budburst forward, followed by flowering in June. The cool, damp summer was then made up for by ideal conditions in September to ripen off the grapes nicely.

Harvest: we brought in this year's harvest in two phases in order to make the most of the excellent ripening conditions. The grapes for the white wines were picked on 11 and 12 September. After a two-day break, we harvested the reds from 15 to 20 September.

September boosted the concentration of the grapes in sugar, aromas and tannins, making for a vintage with lots of fruit flavours. The harvest was reasonably good, although slightly smaller than average with a yield just below the 30hl/ha mark.

Winemaking

An exacting commitment to quality: Clos des Forêts Saint Georges is only made with grapes from its oldest vines. We wish to express the very best of this exceptional terroir, and the old vines give darker, more intense wines. This means that grapes from the younger vines are not used for the Clos des Forêts but vinified separately to make Les Petits Plets Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru.

Traditional vinification: hand-picked grapes, minimal cuvaison, a light hand with the pumping-over... The method used to give birth to the wine is to let things happen naturally to reveal the soul of the wine.

A wine for ageing: the generous terroir of the Clos des Forêts Saint Georges forms the soul of the wine. It builds a solid red around well-present tannins which define a wine for ageing. A few years in the cellar will allow the wine to express itself more fully and make it more graceful, silkier and more complete.

Food pairings

This racy red deserves great red meats. Rib of beef slowly cooked over embers is the obvious choice, but one can also think of a pepper fillet, a rack of lamb with herbs or a duck magret with mild spices. These suggestions are given as a guide, as a springboard for your gustatory imagination.

Terroir

In Burgundy the monopoly (single estate vineyard) defines a unit of land, a terroir which has been perfectly defined for centuries and which is owned by a single proprietor. The Clos des Forêts Saint Georges covers a surface of 7.20 hectares, all in one piece. It is a unique terroir in a privileged location which right from its origin has made one of the greatest Nuits Saint Georges wines.