2010 Marsannay Les Longeroies

Violets and sweetness. Relatively gentle. Pure. (JR)

(30% new oak): Good bright red. Enticing aromas of redcurrant and rust. Juicy, fruity and quite ripe (this is 12.5% natural alcohol), with lovely floral lift to the raspberry fruit. Nicely silky wine with sweet tannins. This seems almost ready to go into tank. (Incidentally, Mortet's 2001 Bourgogne rouge , from high-altitude fruit picked on October 3, looks to be a winner, with a rocky, calcaire quality intensifying the supple fruit.)

The 2010 Marsannay Les Longeroies is pure silk on the palate. It shows remarkable elegance and sheer polish. The tannins are exceptionally polished, as is everything else in the glass. Sweet floral notes add lift and brightness to the fruit on the long, crystalline finish. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. Arnaud Mortet is focused on making elegant, refined wines. In 2010 he sought to achieve that through gentle extraction and less use of new oak barrels, which is broadly the direction his winemaking is headed, notwithstanding the many particulars that present themselves each year. Mortet planned to age the 2010s fifteen months in barrel, then rack the wines into steel. Yields are of course down across the board, but that won’t be much of a surprise to readers given the vintage. Overall, the Mortet 2010s are striking for their beauty and transparency. The 2009 also showed brilliantly from bottle. I will report on those wines in the April issue. Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400