Top Morey-St-Denis 2021 en primeur wines

Best producers:

• Domaine Dujac
• Domaine Ponsot
• Domaine des Lambrays
• Domaine du Clos de Tart
• Domaine Hubert Lignier

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2021 wines

The village of Morey-St-Denis enjoys an unbroken swathe of grand cru vineyards from the Clos de la Roche in the north to the beginning of Bonnes-Mares in the south, with the Clos-St-Denis, Clos des Lambrays, and the Clos de Tart between them.

The Clos de Tart is a monopole, and the Clos des Lambrays is nearly so. Both winemakers (Alessandro Noli and Jacques Devauges, respectively) ensured quality by declassifying tracts of their vineyards to premier cru Morey to ensure quality.

The strict selection left them pleased with the results. Alessandro Noli called 2021 ‘classic Burgundy’, Jacques Devauges meanwhile explained that ‘nature was bad and good. We had little fruit on the vines [due to frost damage], low yields, and our recent introduction of biodynamic practices helped the vines to ripen everything in a very satisfactory way.’

As in Gevrey-Chambertin, the grand crus and the best of the premier crus were less affected by poor weather than the rest of the village. Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac was pleasantly surprised. ‘We picked everything between 12%-13% potential alcohol and although we ordered two tonnes of sugar [for chaptalisation], we only used 200 kilos.’ Dujac‘s range of Morey wines from village level up to Clos de la Roche are all reliably strong.

However, most agreed that yields were lower in Morey than in Gevrey. Alexandre Abel at Domaine Ponsot was among the last to pick, finishing in October. Like Dujac, Ponsot had very satisfactory ripeness levels but their yields were about half of what they could get in Gevrey. The yield for the premier cru blend Cuvée des Alouettes was so low that he added a half-barrel of Clos de la Roche to give a bit more volume (and produce an outstanding wine).

Although low yielding, the best of the Morey vineyards from the top domaines gave more weight and density than Gevrey, with a plump, round feel, balanced acidity and supple tannins that should please wine lovers for years to come.

See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above

See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores

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See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

 Meursault | Chambolle-Musigny | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Morey-St-Denis 2021 wines:

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Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines