2012 Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Francois D'Allaines

Francois D'Allaines

Francois D'Allaines started his eponymous wine business in 1996 in the village of Demigny in Burgundy just across the A6 from the famous villages of the Côte de Beaune after a career in the hotel trade and then training at the prestigious Lycee Viticole de Beaune.

He specialises in the wines of the Côte de Beaune and the Côte Chalonnaise buying from growers with whom he has built long relationships and who share his respect for the terroir. His wines include a Rully and a Puligny Montrachet (Tete de Cuvee '07).

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.