Local Celebrities in Morey-St-Denis: 92 point 2015 Premier Cru

Morey-St-Denis is a tiny town. After our tasting yesterday at the Domaine Amiot, we strolled a few hundred yards down the town’s main street to lunch with Chantal and Jean-Louis. In a four minute walk we paused half a dozen times to exchange greetings with neighbors and friends, and then got waves and handshakes from nearly everyone in the restaurant. There may be only 680 inhabitants in the town, but everyone knows the name Amiot.

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“Seductive,” “Utterly Delicious” 2015 White Burgundy from Michel Gros.

Yesterday afternoon we visited Michel Gros, our best known winemaker for Côte de Nuits reds. We barrel-tasted his 2016s, which are exceptionally good — this vintage will be far better than critics’ early predictions. At the end of a long tasting, Michel poured us tastes of his only white wine, from the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, in both 2015 and 2016.

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“Outstanding” 2015 Rhône Blend: an Explosion of Springtime Flavor.

We spent an enjoyable few hours on Nicolas Haeni’s charming backyard terrace yesterday. Haeni runs the Domaine Malmont, a tiny source in the Southern Rhône whose entire winemaking operation fits inside a small garage attached to his house. Under clear skies and a warm Provencal sun we tasted through Malmont’s recent cuvées.

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“Magnificent” New Very-Old-Vine Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

We arrived yesterday afternoon in Provence. It’s lovely here — the sun is warm, the light is crisp, and the wind whistles through the craggy olive trees. If we could bottle the feel of Provence and bring it back we certainly would. (Apologies to any readers who were at yesterday’s marathon — that last paragraph may have been painful.)

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