Domaine Alain Michelot Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Charrieres

This is inky black, but weightless and thoroughly delicious.

Domaines et Saveurs Dégustation (Beaune) : Walkaround tasting with the producers. Bright red fruits, charming and near elegant, good weight, good now.

6 hours slow ox. Deep purple red. On initial taste this had the characteristic’20 plush, velvety dark exotic florals and fruits, but with air a more savoury wine emerged, dark graphite, charcuterie, black olive tapenade, mouth coating but weightless. Utterly delicious.

Dark, impenetrable purple red. The nose a veritable cavalcade of complex floral scents: peonies, lilac, roses, sweet confection and subtle feminine spice. On the palate more robust, savoury, spicy, powdery limestone mineralite, Sri Lankan spice, sweet, dense, a powerhouse, yet simultaneously lithe. Such and accomplished wine: by no means aristocratic, but hedonistic, authentic, delightful, sadly my last bottle…

Dark purple. Beautifully detailed dark mineral nose, dark cherries, heady florals, a hint of bay, complex spice overlays background dark, dank earth. Plush velvety feminine palate which is dark and weightlessly concentrated, black cherries and complex spice frame a very long mineral finish. This is youthful but open and very delicious.

Wow... and not in a good way. This is as opaque as the darkest night, chewy as an old boot, and lacking any varietal character. There is no way this could be picked as pinot from a line up. I realise this is young, but its also poor quality, generic wine with a massive price tag. Steer well clear of this.

Impenetrable purple black. The nose incredibly concentrated and complex: exotic floral scents, dark cherries with a liqueur like intensity, flinty, powdery limestone mineralite, Asian spice. Muscular Nuits, saline, meaty palate, incredibly concentrated but also quite weightless with seemingly absent tannin, very persistent salty finish. My first time tasting this 1er and an absolute beauty holding much promise. Not sure I’ve ever tasted anything quite so weightlessly concentrated as the ‘20’s from this producer.