Caroline Morey Beaune 1er Cru Greves Rouge 2021

Caroline Morey comes from a long line of vignerons based in the Cotes de Beaune and is also married to Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey. In 2014 Caroline has taken her share of some family vineyards from her father Jean-Marc and has created her own domaine based in Chassagne-Montrachet working out of brand new cellars built for Caroline and her husband Pierre-Yves.

For Caroline’s first vintage in 2014 she had small holdings in Chassagne-Montrachet for both red and white together with small holdings in Santenay and Hautes Cotes de Beaune totaling just 2.4 hectares. With more vineyards added both from family and from acquisitions in the last few years the total is now 7 hectares for Caroline. Her family holdings were roughly half for red wines and half for white wines, so Caroline has always been very comfortable vinifying red wines and is clearly adept with whites as well. For her own estate her holdings are about 35% Pinot Noir and 65% Chardonnay.

Caroline’s approach in the cellar shows a similar light touch as her husband using mostly 350 litre barrels with no more than 30% new and with no battonage for the white wines. For the red wines she adapts to each site and each vintage with no ‘recipe’ as such save to say that Caroline favours a little whole bunch when possible but never more than 50% which she considers too much. Now settled into the new cellars and with 5 vintages released it is clear that Caroline has moved straight into the premier tier of producers in the Cote de Beaune as she has rapidly established her very small and very fine estate. With just a few barrels produced of most wines these will be difficult to come by. Older vines here, planted in the mid-60s, roughly. White varietals are planted in the middle, book-ended by this red.

Pale in colour but with an impressive depth of fruit. Always the lowest acidity in the cellar but Caroline Morey’s 2021 Beaune Grèves is a lovely wine with a generous pure middleweight of fruit and good length. Drink from 2026-2030. Jasper Morris, October 2022.

An admirably pure, cool and pretty nose is also quite floral with its spicy aromas of lilac, violet and rose petal adding elegance to the blend of both red and dark pinot fruit. There is very good delineation and underlying tension to the lighter weight flavors that terminate in a lightly austere and stony finale. This too could use better depth but despite the light weight flavours, more should reasonably develop before full maturity. Burghound, April 2023

The Finer Details
Style -  Red Wine
Varietal - Pinot Noir
Country - France
Region - Burgundy
Vintage - 2021
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 13.5%