Wine Advisor
Arnaud Ente, Meursault La Seve du Clos 2007
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
The 2007 Meursault La Sève du Clos from Arnaud Ente is fabulous, wafting from the glass with a complex bouquet of pear, crisp stone fruit and blanched almonds, as well as delicate top-notes of petrol and subtly smoky reduction. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied and intensely concentrated, with chewy extract, crystalline purity and electrifying energy: deep, multidimensional and effortlessly controlled. Ente's La Sève du Clos is produced from his oldest vines, from a parcel in En l'Ormeau that was planted not long after phylloxera hit Meursault in 1878. Until 1999, it wasn't replanted, and when vines died their neighbors were simply pruned longer to fill the space; today, some of these old vines' extended trunks have to be supported with stones. While this is only a village Meursault, and not from an especially prestigious lieu-dit at that, the combination of more than 120-year-old vines and Ente's meticulous winemaking produce a cuvée that embarrasses many grand cru whites.
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.
