2011 Morey St Denis

The 2011 Morey St. Denis is a pretty, mid-weight wine built for near-term drinking. Sweet red cherries, violets and spices are nicely delineated, but the 2011 lacks a bit of mid-palate pliancy, which exposes the tannins, leaving the wine with a sense of austerity that I don't expect to soften with bottle age. Here, too, elements of greenness are impossible to miss.

The 2011 Morey-St-Denis Village is a little green on the nose to be honest. The tannins feel a little raw on the entry and it needs to develop more weight and flesh toward the finish. Drink now. I have been visiting Jeremy and Alec Seysses at Domaine Dujac for several years now, and it is always one of my favorite ports of call. Alec, looking surprisingly chipper for a new dad had taken time off nappy duty to guide me through the 2011s this year. I have to confess that I was concerned by the conspicuous nature of the new oak on both their negociant label wines and the entry Village Crus. I felt that 35% new oak tended to overwhelm the fruit and terroir and occasionally impart drying finishes, which is why my scores are parsimonious here. As I tasted through the range toward the flock of Grand Crus the oak seemed better assimilated, although I would still maintain that the wine is of such quality that the present level of oak risks being superfluous to requirements. All the negociant label wines were bottled before Christmas. Importers: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724; Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 642-5500