Morey-St-Denis 2024: Winemaking talent shines amid challenges

The delicious 2024 Clos St-Denis from Amiot-Servelle is a very strong effort in a difficult year, with ripe aromas of black plums and raspberry and hints of peony and spice. The texture is light and fresh but not insubstantial, with a fine balance between fruit, tannin and crisp acidity on the palate. The grapes are from a 0.17ha parcel of old vines from Domaine Pierre Amiot. This wine should open in three to five years and drink easily for 20 after that.

Although the 2024 Rousseau Clos de la Roche is a bit less pointedly aromatic than its stablemate Charmes-Chambertin, it offers a lovely, silky fruit aroma with notes of plum and blackberry; the texture is supple and a bit softer than the wines from Gevrey, but it is well balanced and very pleasant. This wine is surely among the best for the appellation. Give it three to five years to knit together, and then drink it over the next 20.

Bruno Clair’s Bonnes-Mares is a rarity since it is on the Morey side of the vineyard, while most of the climat lies in Chambolle. It is also a rarity, as it is uncommonly successful in the 2024 vintage, with a lovely, fully ripe mulberry fruit aroma and notes of violets and spice. The texture has impressive density (particularly given the vintage) and a rare concentration and grip on the palate. The fruit lingers pleasantly on the finish, with a sweet ripeness that is truly a pleasure.

There is admirable complexity and depth to this, showing ripe mulberry fruit and notes of violets, liquorice and earth. The texture is less opulent than the blended Les Loups, but the tannins are more focused, and the body is more substantial. The entire climat is 0.87ha, and the domaine owns more than a third of the total. This will open in three to five years and should drink for another 20 years beyond that.

The Clos Sorbè is less forward than the other Morey premiers crus in this cellar, but it is a bigger wine with more structure, firm and muscular. The fruit opens on the palate with notes of black plum and currant, along with bright limestone mineral accents. The texture is fresh and lively, and the finish is long. The domaine has over a hectare here, in the iron-rich soil across from the Clos Baulet. The wine is delicious and will continue to improve for several decades in a proper cellar.

The delicious 2024 Clos St-Denis from Dujac is an interesting contrast to the Clos de la Roche. The colour is bright, and the aromas are more accessible, with complex, nuanced notes of blackberry, bramble and sage and a burst of limestone minerality. The texture is silky, supple and not as dense as the Clos de la Roche, but with time, it should be at the same level. The grapes are from the domaine's parcels spread throughout the climat; they were fermented largely as whole bunches and are ageing now in barrel.

Laurent Lignier has crafted a delicious wine from his holdings in Clos de la Roche, with dark plummy fruit and notes of ground coffee, earth and spice. The texture is serious, dense with tannin and extract, with enough acidity to draw the flavours out on the palate. Yields were tiny – just five barrels instead of the customary 15-20. This wine will begin to open in three to five years and will drink well for decades after that.

This impressive old-vine Morey premier cru has a lovely sweet cherry fruit aroma with an edge of exotic Asian spice and hints of earth and smoke. The texture has admirably grippy tannins and a lively acidity that lead it to a lingering finish. The rows of vines start out in Faconnières and end up in Chenevery, but this is one contiguous plot of two-thirds of a hectare. The oldest vines were planted in 1936, and the youngest in 1962 – an impressive wine.

The lovely, ripe blackberry fruit, with a bit of earth and spice, enlivens the initial attack of this classic vintage of Clos de la Roche from Ponsot. If there is not as much power here as in recent sunny vintages, there is still a timeless elegance that will age well. The tannins are firm and still somewhat unyielding at this point, suggesting five to seven years in the cellar before opening but presaging a long evolution.

The 2024 grand vin from Clos de Tart was firm at first, and somewhat unyielding. On a second look, the wine was more forgiving, with bright raspberry fruit and an edge of fresh violets and spice. The texture was concentrated and dense, with close-grained tannins and a lingering finish. This wine seems to unwind slowly in the glass; with a bit of ageing, it should be showing well.

There is a dark blackberry fruit aroma with hints of spice and smoke on the initial attack. On the palate, there is an invigoratingly fresh acidity and a burst of limestone minerality that carries the wine to an impressive finish. The grapes from this well-placed premier cru are from a parcel that borders Charmes-Chambertin.

There is a hint of reduction initially, but this resolves over time into a lovely, lilting raspberry fruit aroma with an edge of peony and lavender. The texture is fine and fresh, light in body, but not insubstantial. The grapes are from a 0.40ha parcel near the Clos de Tart; in 2024, they were all destemmed by hand before fermentation on native yeasts and ageing in used barrels.

Lovely, spicy, ripe and round, this is an exemplary bottling in a difficult year, with expressive aromas of raspberry and blackberry fruit and hints of earth and spice. The texture is supple and approachable, with a fine balance between fresh acidity and extract. The position of the vines at the top of the slope was evidently not an impediment to ripening – lovely wine.

The 2024 Premier Cru Les Loups delivers ripe aromas of strawberry and black plums with a floral edge. The texture is silky, approachable and supple, and the fruit flavours echo with delightful purity and depth of flavour on the palate. The grapes are blended from Clos Sorbè, Blanchards, La Riotte and Le Village; there is less density and grip here than in the single-climat wines, but the result is more open and should mature earlier.

The blended Morey premier cru from Dujac represents the domaine's customary cofermentation of Les Charrières, Les Millandes, Les Ruchots and Clos Sorbè (0.82ha in total). The classic result has more concentrated aromatics than the village Morey. There is also more body and weight; although slightly astringent at present, there is enough substance to bring the wine into balance with a bit more maturation. The fresh acidity means that the wine vibrates on the palate and lingers pleasantly on the finish. The team destemmed 15% of the grapes, and the rest were fermented as whole bunches.

Supple and forward, the Morey Premier Cru La Riotte is the opposite of the Chaffots – this is lush, almost decadent, with aromas of ripe black plums and cherries and less of the mineral tension of the Chaffots. On the palate, there is a marked sweetness to the fruit, and the texture is round and supple. Lignier’s parcel of 0.20ha is planted in the alluvial soils of the dejection cone of Morey, which helps it ripen fully.

In the thin soils at the top of the slope above grand cru Clos St-Denis, Ligner’s parcel of premier cru Chaffots has produced a lively, exciting wine in 2024, with high-toned pomegranate and rhubarb fruit and hints of lavender and iodine. The texture is lively and crisp, with abundant tension but enough substance to bring the wine into balance. This will need three to five years to open up, but it should drink for a further 20 after that.

With its deep colour and fragrant aromas of black plum and mulberry, the Morey Trilogie is a delicious wine, albeit one made at a cost, since Lignier produced only three barrels from 0.90ha. The texture is powerful and concentrated, balanced by fresh acidity that leads the wine to a lingering finish. The grapes are largely from the village-level part of Chenevery (which continues into the premier cru band), along with a bit of Pourroux and Clos Solon. This is always among my favourite village-level wines from Morey.

This delightful wine from Ponsot is unusually robust for the vintage, with ripe mulberry fruit aromas and notes of peony, earth and spice. Firm tannins and abundant extract are balanced by crisp acidity, bringing this engaging wine into elegant balance. The grapes are from the Monts Luisants climat, but at the base of the slope, where the well-drained clay provides a substantial wine.