Of the four Cote de Nuit villages that contain Grand Crus, I would have to put the commune of Morey St Denis, last behind Vosne Romanee, Chambolle, and Gevrey Chambertin.
Yet, whenever I sample a premier cru from MSD, I tend to really enjoy it. In a way, I find them a bit cloyingly sweet, almost too much of a good thing, but yet very enjoyable.
Although the flavor profile, may be last out of the four, to my personal taste, I have found the premier crus can often have more fruit, and as an aside, be a better value than some of the other communes.
I’d be interested to hear other peoples personal opinions.
Like most (all?) Cote d’Or villages it grows excellent wine. I like the sappy depth of fruit. An added bonus is that they aren’t status wines so the prices are more reasonable. Especially at the 1er level.
I hear Flagey-Echezeaux has a couple of Grand Crus in it as well.
Clos de la Roche and Clos St. Denis float my boat. I will also take a little MSD based Bonnes Mares as well. Clos de Tart isn’t always my thing and I can see where you are coming from there but Lambrays, while far from one of the greatest GCs, is still moderately priced in the grand scheme of things and can be a lovely, lovely wine. In fact of the few MSD 1ers I have had (La Bussiere, Ruchots, Millandes and Aux Cheseaux (those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head) I generally find them moving more toward the rustic, meaty, structured end of MSD. I like them but in general I find the 1ers from Chambolle (Amoureuses, Sentiers, Fuees, Charmes, Baudes, etc.) to be more my speed. Different boats.
I love MSD. Some of my favorite producers are located there and make wine from there like Truchot, Clos des Lambrays, and Dujac. Then there are other great producers like Ponsot and Lignier. The wines may not all be as grand as in some other villages, but to me somehow just seem to be real - the essence of Burgundy.
I love Morey-Saint-Denis. In terms of geography, Morey is located between Gevrey and Chambolle. And its wines are too IMO, not quite the earthy masculinity of Gevrey, not quite the delicate feminine lace of Chambolle. In Burgundy, linear extrapolations such as this often do not work, but in this case I think it does work as a useful generality. Frankly, I don’t see how anyone who is a fan of both Gevrey and Chambolle could fail to be a fan of Morey.
As for that “cloyingly sweet” character you have found in M-S-D, I think that must be producer-specific, as I have not found that character in the wines. JM2C.