Domaine Tortochot Morey Saint Denis red 2023

PRESENTATION OF DOMAINE TORTOCHOT
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Domaine Tortochot Morey Saint Denis red 2023

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

Comment from the domaine on the 2023 vintage: Another very particular year, but that’s what makes the charm of the winemaker's profession.

The winter was mild and reasonably wet. The spring was cool, the season not too early, so we escaped the spring frost and maintained our second late pruning. The flowering therefore occurred quickly under very good conditions around June 10.

The summer alternated between cool and warmer periods, regularly watered by thunderstorms. It was rather cool for us compared to recent years.

However, we experienced three periods with significant heat spikes, one in July, one around August 15, and the last in early September. The maximums approached 38 degrees in the afternoons. A record for late summer after August 15.

This capricious weather may have benefited diseases, particularly powdery mildew but especially downy mildew with exceptional virulence. Our vineyard manager had to be rigorous in adhering to a flawless treatment schedule.

We managed to preserve a generous harvest from our old vines with an average age of 60 years.

At the beginning of September, the vines struggled to ripen all their grapes. Upon returning from vacation at the end of August, the vines had grown very little to nourish their grapes with sugars. But we had to fight with the grass, which had developed exceptionally. The vines passed the summer well, retaining all their leaves, a sign that they had sufficient water reserves.

We decided to postpone our harvest start date to September 11 and waited for the heat to subside to protect our harvesters.

In the last week, the grapes went from 11.5% potential alcohol to 12.5% or even 13% potential alcohol, due to the concentration phenomena that took place. The acidity even increased as the grapes lost juice and concentrated sugars and acidity.

The first grapes we tasted have a beautiful balance, stable acidity with a nice portion of tartaric acid preserved due to the rather cool summer.

The first musts were all cooled to 15 degrees to prevent too rapid fermentation starts.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the forecast storms spare us, as with sugar and phenolic maturity being there, the quality of the harvest could quickly deteriorate.

Grape variety: 100% pinot noir

Soil type: The village of Morey Saint Denis is nestled between Chambolle Musigny and Gevrey Chambertin to the north. Morey Saint Denis once belonged to the powerful abbey of Citeaux. Completely destroyed in the 17th century by a fire, it was then violently affected by the plague. This may partly explain its lack of notoriety.
Production has often remained in the shadow of two neighboring communes, without any real qualitative reason. Indeed, Morey has five magnificent Grands Crus, located halfway up the slopes, as well as about twenty climates classified as 1er Crus. The Grands Crus are composed of Bajocian limestone (Bonnes Mares, Clos de Tart, Clos des Lambrays, Clos Saint Denis, Clos de la Roche). Lower down the slope are the Premiers Crus.

We cultivate two plots located in the commune of Morey Saint Denis: Aux Chézeaux and Clos des Ormes. Starting from the 2014 vintage, we have resumed the exploitation of 2 new plots on Les Crais

Area: Aux Chézeaux: 0.1462 hectare - Les Crais: 0.3526 hectare + 0.0647 hectare

Produces a wine lighter than those from Gevrey Chambertin, very fruity.

Can be enjoyed within 3 to 5 years.