2010 Côte de Nuits Villages, Domaine David Clark, Burgundy

Domaine David Clark

After 10 successful years as a vigneron, David has decided to search out new challenges in his life. The 2012 vintage (available January 2014) is the last from this excellent source of Burgundy wine.

Domaine David Clark was based in the small village of Morey-Saint-Denis, nestled in the heart of Burgundy's famous and exclusive Côte de Nuits.

His penchant for wine, developed after spending a year working for a UK wine merchant, led him to the 1997 harvest at Mayacamas in the Napa Valley and the 1998 at Tahbilk in Australia. It was also within this region that he was interviewed and subsequently hired by the Williams Formula One team for the Grand Prix.

On leaving Williams in 2003, David Clark worked on an organic farm in the Auvergne to sharpen up on his French before attending the Lycée Viticole in Beaune. Having caught sight of an ad for a small (2/3 acre) vineyard of lowly generic Bourgogne appellation in 2004, Clark impulsively snapped it up. The open-plan style of the shared allotments enabled him to receive news of a house in Morey that had come on to the market with outbuildings for a cellar and storage.   David Clark made a hand-crafted Bourgogne Rouge and an outstanding Bourgogne Passetoutgrains, a blend of Pinot Noir and some superior Gamay grapes from a vineyard facing the fabled Clos de Vougeot. He added a barrel of Morey-St-Denis in 2006, Côte de Nuits-Villages in 2007 and Vosne-Romanée from 2008. David proved exceptionally meticulous in the vineyard, working with grand cru level yields even in his generic vineyards.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director and author of the award-winning Inside Burgundy comprehensive handbook.

Cote de Nuits Villages

The wine appellation of Côte de Nuit Villages in Burgundy includes wines from a small number of villages, mostly in the extreme north and south of the Côte de Nuits: Fixin and Brochon in the north, Comblanchien, Corgoloin and Prissey to the south. The wines are usually red and are often good value.

Côte de Nuits Villages lies above the basic AOC Bourgogne in the hierarchy of local appellations. Hautes-Côtes de Nuits is also mostly red and is produced in the hinterland to the south-west of Nuits-St Georges. 

Recommended producers: Sylvain Loichet, Patrice et Michele Rion

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.