2020 Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguettes, Patrice & Maxime Rion, Burgundy

Michele & Patrice Rion

Patrice Rion and his wife Michèle began their own small domaine with just two wines, an outstanding Bourgogne Rouge Bons Batons and the sumptuous Chambolle Musigny les Cras, in 1990 while Patrice continued as winemaker at the Domaine Daniel Rion. They enlarged in 2000 when Patrice left Domaine Daniel Rion. He has built a cuverie and cellar on his own property and also makes a small range of négociant cuvées to supplement their small vineyard holding. He has recently been joined in the business by son Maxime.

Since he left the latter in 2000 he has added Chambolle Musigny les Charmes and Nuits St Georges Clos des Argillières (his share from the family domaine) and in 2005 Nuits St Georges Terres Blanches (white), some more Argillières and the monopole Nuits St Georges Clos St Marc in 2006. Also from 2006 he has entered an agreement to manage the vineyards and purchase the grapes from a small estate in Chambolle which includes some Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses and grand cru Bonnes Mares.

To complement this range there are some additional cuvées, notably Chambolle Musigny and Nuits St Georges vieilles vignes, made from purchased grapes.

The wines are made in Patrice’s purpose built small winery in Prémeaux. Patrice was one of the first to train his vines higher than the Burgundy standard, to increase the canopy without shading the grapes, which gives better ripening and colour. He is also frequently an innovator in the cellar and offers some wines (Bourgogne Bon Batons, white wines, half bottles) in stelvin screwcaps. The grapes are sorted on two tables de tri, one before destemming and the other after. The whole berries are conveyed to their stainless steel vats for a cuvaison of about three weeks: 7 days at 11/12°, followed by 2 weeks fermentation and post-fermentation, not exceeding 32°. There are now two barrel cellars so that each vintage can be aged for 18 months without racking. Most wines now receive 50% new wood.

Patrice’s style is for very pure, harmonious wines, skilfully vinified and then matured in oak barrels with a well judged percentage of new oak (usually 50% new) for 18 months, without racking or fining.

Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director and author of the award-winning Inside Burgundy comprehensive handbook.

Hautes-Cotes-de Nuits

Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits covers land in 19 communes, stretching from around the hill of Vergy in the north to Magny-lès-Villers, which sits astride the dividing line with the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune.

Arcenant is one of the best wine villages in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, and is also noted for the quality of its fruit-based liqueurs such as the Crème de Cassis (as well as Framboise, Pêche de Vigne, Guignolet and more) from Jean-Baptiste Joannet. The leading wine estates are Olivier Jouan and Aurélien Verdet.

Le Clos du Prieuré is located on a south-facing slope above the village, with a white marl and limestone bedrock with affinity to parts of Corton-Charlemagnee, according to Thibault Liger-Belair – whose plot is planted at 10,000 vines per hectare rather than the usual higher training and wider spacing of the Hautes-Côtes. The other main producer is Aurélien Verdet, as before.

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.