Here’s an example of how a knowledge of the traditional hierarchy of Burgundy’s wine-producing villages will only take you so far: Not only is a lesser-known village like Chorey-Lès-Beaune perfectly capable of producing a screamer like this 2021, you won’t pay an exorbitant price for the privilege. This wine from Domaine Arnoux is also the product of an extremely classic vintage, one we’ve been thrilling to after a long period of tasting very rich, often-overblown wines from 2020.
Chorey-Lès-Beaune is east of Savigny-Lès-Beaune and just south of Aloxe-Corton and its famous Grand Cru hillside. Marked by its somewhat flatter topography relative to its immediate neighbors, Chorey is nevertheless blessed with the same limestone-rich soils as those more-famous communes. There are no Premier or Grand Cru vineyards in Chorey, but the “Les Beaumonts” vineyard is considered by many to be the best parcel in the village.
Arnoux is a well-dispersed surname in Burgundy; this Arnoux family is currently headed up by Pascal and his wife, Caroline, who’ve headed up operations at this multi-generational farm since 2008. The current domaine covers more than 20 hectares of vineyards scattered throughout the communes of Chorey-lès-Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Echevronne.
For this bottling, hand-harvested grapes from vines averaging between 20 and 25 years of age are fermented in stainless steel vats over the course of three to four weeks. Aging is carried out in mostly used French oak barrels for about one year.
This is a pretty, perfumed Burgundy Pinot Noir that displays a fine-grained, “cool-vintage” character. It pours a bright garnet-red with pink reflections, with high-toned aromas of red and black cherry, wild strawberry, black tea, violets, underbrush, and a delicate note of warm spice. Medium-bodied, with fine-grained tannins and lots of mouth-watering acidity, it needs some air to reveal its true self: Decant at least 30 minutes before serving with roast pork loin, wild mushroom pasta or risotto, or some cedar-planked salmon.
