Frederic Magnien Cote de Nuits Villages Croix Violette 2019
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Wilfred
Wong
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'Croix Violette' is a small plot surrounded by a stone wall, neighboring an active cloister (the Violet Cross) in the village of Brochon. True to its name, fruit here is purple, regal, refined, very juicy, and spiced. A classic Pinot Noir with poise and elegance.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Frédéric Magnien Côte de Nuits-Villages Croix-Violette brings a classic, Old World style to the fore. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows rustic aromas and flavors of chalk and dried earth. Pair it with a roast chicken salad mixed with fresh garden greens. (Tasted: September 15, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
Born in May 1969, in one of the most beautiful wine growing regions in the world, Frederic Magnien is a 5th generation winemaker from the Magnien family. He studied at the viticultural Lycee (high school) in Beaune, while helping his father in the vineyards and cellars in his spare time.
In September 1995, he made one of the most important decisions of his life; he set up a Maison de Negoce (wine trading house) under his own name.
His objective is to distinguish the work of a "wine producer" from that of a "winemaker": Frederic Magnien does not own vines but plays an important consultancy role with the wine growers with whom he works closely throughout the year. This enables him to select plots of mainly old vines (over 40 years of age) and to buy very high quality grapes, at optimum maturity, from among the noblest of the Cote de Nuits appellations.
He can then, at the vinification stage and using identical casks and aging, explore the aromatic diversity of the Cote de Nuits terroirs, building on the dedicated work of the wine grower.
The House of Frederic Magnien started off in 1995 with 21 barrels containing 5 appellations and by 2011 could claim 1000 barrels.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
The origin of perhaps the world’s very finest Pinot Noir, Côte de Nuits is the northern half of the Côte d'Or and includes the famous wine villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux and Nuits-St-Georges.
Fine whites from Chardonnay are certainly found in the Côte de Nuits, but with much less frequency than top-performing reds made of Pinot noir. The little village of Nuits-St-Georges in its southern end gave the region its name: Côte de Nuits. The city of Dijon marks its northern border.