Wine Advisor
Arnaud Ente, Meursault Clos des Ambres 2012
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
The last white was the 2012 Meursault Clos des Ambres from Domaine Arnaud Ente. Now this had a ton of reduction; the words “struck match” are underlined in my notebook. For me, it muscles out the terroir expression, and I prefer the 2014 that I tasted the previous month. The palate is a different matter entirely. Very concentrated, with citrus peel, wild peach and allspice, this blossoms in the glass, revealing veins of green olive toward the finish. Monitoring over a couple hours was crucial, as that reduction finally lifted to reveal some lovely peach skin notes. This is a great wine, but chuck it in a decanter for two or three hours before serving.
About the Producer
Arnaud Ente left Coche Dury, the god of white wine, in 1991 to establish his own winery! After 20 years of hard work, after winning the French Wine of the Year Person of the Year in 2012, the reputation has gradually been competed by lovers of pure and meticulous white wine go! Mr. Michel Bettane has pointed out that in his nearly 30 years of wine evaluation, the only white wine that has given him praise and surprises turned out to be Arnaud Ente's Bourgogne Aligoté, he now thinks this should be a Grand Cru. The vineyard of Chateau Arnoant is less than 5 hectares, not only does it not have any grand crus, but 80% of the plots are Bourgogne and Village. Regardless of the grade of the plot, Arnaud Ente takes care of it in the same way, using the Lutte Raisonnée method, which strictly controls the yield to improve the quality of the grapes. Take 2012 as an example, the average output per hectare of the entire winery is only 1,900 liters, about 2,500 bottles, and some wines even have only 600 liters of output, such as Meursault Clos des Ambres with an average vine age of more than 50 years. This way of strictly controlling production is definitely the only way he can make great wines. Another standout is that the harvest is brought forward in order to obtain finer grapes. There is better, beautiful acidity in the harvested grapes, giving the wine more layer, variety, and complexity.
