De Aureo Spirito is a brotherhood formed by owners of great historic houses of Burgundy.
Their coats of arms attest of the ancestral traditions of our region.
With subtle maturing, the wines are produced in limited quantities.
MEURSAULT PREMIER CRU 2011

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2011  

The Chardonnay is the grape variety of the Meursault Premier Cru.

Starting from Beaune and then heading south, Meursault is the first of the three great white wine villages of the Côte de Beaune, in Burgundy.

This wine is a superb match for all poultry, including turkey and duck, ham, pork and lighter beef dishes, game, ripe cheeses.

Serve at a temperature of 14 °C.

This wine can be consumed now or laid down in a cellar for the next 3 years.

The grapes are picked by hand.  The harvest is brought to the winery in crates and further selection takes place. The temperature is lowered to about 15° C to increase the amount of maceration time prior to fermentation.  Fermentation takes place over ten days and every day the wine is pumped over once and the cap is punched twice.  Malolactic fermentation and ageing are conducted in barrels for 12 - 14 months.

Everywhere in France, “precocity” is the dominant characteristic for this 2011 vintage. Apart from the 2003 heat wave, never have we seen such an early harvest. In fact, in all of the French vineyards, it was generally two weeks earlier than usual that the first hedge-clipper snips were given to collect the grapes and bring them to the presses and vinification vats.

It is the spring of 2011 that firmly imposed this rapid growth rhythm on the vines. Premature, and especially hot and dry, the months of March, April, and May took on airs of summer, which allowed the first buds to open and develop in the best possible conditions.

The growth rate of the vines was dramatic right until the flowering stage where we estimated the vines’ development to be practically three weeks to one month early. At this wild rhythm we could have harvested as early as mid-August, which has never been done before!

Therefore, it is with somewhat of a relief that we welcomed the first significant rainfalls at the end of June. This rain at the beginning of the summer effectively reversed the situation in most vineyards and allowed the vines to continue a slightly less intense physiological cycle.

For the whites and rosés, the 2011 vintage seems to make fruity and crisp wines from this first harvest. As for the reds, we are on a vintage that could qualify as the “winemaker’s vintage”, where the work of the winemaker really allows to create great cuvées, especially on the late-ripening varieties which are said to be exceptional. This make for complex, powerful wines with opulent yet well-balanced tannins.