Mainly 1ers, mostly 2012s, tasted in Nuits St.Georges with their makers on 16 and 18 March, 2014
First, a few Villages wines:
2012 Ballorin, Nuits St.Georges Belle Croix
Dark colour. Deep aromas, some higher tones too. Full and round, with plenty of tannin too – but soft and ripe too. Generally a soft wine, dark flavoured but of some depth.
2012 Chantal Lescure, Nuits St.Georges Les Damodes
Quite a lot of reduction on the nose. Reduction in the mouth too. Behind seems quite direct but good fruit and a slowly growing well of structure.
2012 Chevillon-Chezeaux, Nuits St.Georges Les St.Julien
The nose shows pretty red fruits and has quite some depth. There’s a good width and freshness on the palate – fine intensity too. Actually, here are lovely mouth-watering, high-toned, almost floral flavours. Super!
2012 Georges Chicotot, Nuits St.Georges Les Charmottes
Darkly coloured. The nose is deep, perhaps oaky but certainly betrays a little reduction. In the mouth this is round and perhaps a little soft, but there’s good depth and a growing intensity, and, indeed, a super depth of flavour in the finish.
2012 Georges Chicotot, Nuits St.Georges Les Plantes au Baron
More aromatic density here. The palate is lithe, fresh and intense – it’s less soft than the Charmottes and all the lovelier for this extra definition. Lovely wine.
2012 Gachot-Monot, Nuits St.Georges
Medium colour. The nose is wide and hints of whole clusters – but there were none used. Apparently it’s the spice of Vosne, as most of the vines lie near this border. In the mouth this is round, perhaps a little soft but with fine flavour and a hint of salinity. Lovely finish. Pretty and friendly wine. Yum!
2012 Gachot-Monot, Nuits St.Georges Au Crots
A little more colour. The nose is fine but rather shy. Lithe, a growing depth of flavour that’s padded with modest yet ripe tannin. Lovely flavour – it’s not super-long, but it’s very tasty!
2012 Gachot-Monot, Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Chaillots
A honoury inclusion; not just because it has Nuits in the name, but because it was so damn tasty! From vine in Corgoloin.
A deep and rather forward nose though with a faint reduction. Power, concentration, intensity and a lovely focus too. Just a lovely wine.
2012 Philippe Gavignet, Nuits St.Georges Vieilles-Vignes
Dark colour. High-toned with floral references. Silky and lithe with good concentration. Nice depth here – a wine that’s tasty and accessible – a nice and tasty length too.
2012 Gavignet-Bethane, Nuits St.Georges Les Athets
Deep colour. I find the nose rather too high-toned and a little estery. Deep, grapey flavour, but the nose is enough to dissuade me.
2012 Sylvain Loichet, Nuits St.Georges Les Grandes Vignes
Deep colour. A relatively shy nose. Concentrated, and there’s a little astringency to the tannin but there’s super depth of flavour and flavour intensity too. A really strong finish too. A more masculine style of Nuits, but impressive wine!
2012 Sylvain Loichet, Nuits St.Georges Les Grandes Vignes
Tasted again 2 days later. Dark coloured and dark fruit to match on the nose, just a hint of spice too. Super width of flavour – very lovely – quite structured, but not so obviously as the 1ers. Very, very tasty.
2012 Jean Petitot et Fils, Nuits St.Georges Les Poisets
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is a little soft, but there’s good depth here. In the mouth there’s nice width and plenty of complexity – it’s a little unruly, but here is a nice mouth-full of flavour.
Then the Premier Crus
2012 Chevillon-Chezeaux, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Champs Perdrix
The nose is fresh and pretty – not so intense. Plenty of power in the mouth and the flavour grows very well. Fresh and interesting, with fine length. Yum! This is a relatively elegant NSG 1er.
2011 Chevillon-Chezeaux, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Crots
The fruit has a slightly baked impression. The palate is narrow but fresh and intense – indeed a lovely flavour intensity in the mid-palate. Good length too – very easy drinking this.
2011 Chevillon-Chezeaux, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
High toned with some herbs. There’s a hint of P flavour, but there’s also width and freshness to the very tasty fruit flavours. Overall this is quite tasty, but it’s a very plain wine versus most from 2012.
2012 Georges Chicotot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Rue de Chaux
A fresh nose, some herbs too. There’s a little more tannin here, yet of modest proportion. Lovely focus to the flavour(s) Super and very tasty length – Yum!
2012 Philippe Gavignet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Chaboeufs
Here’s a rather shy, high-toned nose. Wide with lovely depth though less obviously intense than many – yet it seems to make up for that with some complexity. A pretty wine, but not much more.
2012 Gavignet-Bethane, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Poulettes
Deep colour. The nose is shy but quite fine; tightly focused and quite lovely. Width, plenty of tannin that shows a little ‘grab’ and mouth-widening flavours. This is on a way higher level to their villages Athets – today at-least.
2012 Gavignet-Bethane, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Chaignots
Like their Athets, this is a little estery. Wide but limited depth – not that nice.
2012 Gachot-Monot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Poulette
Medium-plus colour. The nose is not so deep, but is nicely wide and has darker fruit notes. A lovely, extra dimension of flavour here, and it grows and grows in intensity. I like!
2012 Daniel Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Vignes Rondes
A little mineral with a charcoal note. Wide, a little tannin, texture and a good fruit behind. Slowly lingering flavour. Wait 1-2 years but fine.
2012 Daniel Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Hautes Pruliers
The nose is wide and fine with dark red, not so deep, fruit. Lovely quality of fruit here. Fine energy with an under-stated but ever-present tannin. Very nice.
2012 Patrice Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Argillières
Deep colour with a faint reductive note (screwcap). Lovely width and texture – fine fruit too. This is super – I really like the length.
2012 Patrice Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos St.Marc
The nose is high-toned, showing herbs, spices and a faint florality. Again, full-packed texture on the palate – plenty of tannin to, but ripe tannin that slowly seems to melt.
2012 Gilles Remoriquet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Damodes
The nose is high-toned and quite intense. I like the cool fruit in the mouth and there’s good intensity here too. Finishes very well.
2012 Gilles Remoriquet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Bousselots
The nsoe is again intense but here there’s extra width – very impressive. There’s plenty of structure, but still a cool, interesting fruit behind. Some dryness to the tannin on the finish but the fruit behind is lovely.
A very fine nose – perfect, focused fruit – gorgeous. Wide, round and mouth-filling with plenty of tannin but fruit that’s as good as the nose. Super.
2012 Gilles Remoriquet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
High tones on the nose – a good nose but not as pretty as the domaine’s Route de Chaux. Good width and fine complexity – plenty of ripe tannin too. Lovely fruit, and a fine wine. I retain a slight preference for the Route de Chaux though.
2012 des Perdrix, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Perdrix
Aromatic density that is a match for the wine’s deep colour. Slowly, slowly a pretty fruit aroma also rises from the glass. Round, very well put together – good fruit surrounded by ripe but velvet tannin. A fine baby…
The nose has width and some herbs but is rather modest. Wide, very tasty and lots of flavour dimension. Lovely complexity too. Yum!
2012 Marchand-Tawse, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Vaucrains
Another very discreet nose. The flavours are sweet and round, filling your mouth with great flavour. Slowly growing tannin starts to exert in the middle, but lovely flavour. Again, yum!
2012 Decelle-Villa, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Crots
Deep and dark though rather tight aromas. Very fine, velvet texture and there’s super concentration in the middle. Concentrated and intense, but not much more today – tons of potential though.
2012 Thibault Liger-Belair, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Dark oak and faint reduction. Full of structure, fine cool fruit behind, though the structure is in-charge today. I’d return to get a better idea, but not in the next couple of years…
2012 François Legros, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Bousselots
The nose is pretty, not so concentrated and shows a few herb anecdotes too. Nice width and dimension in the mouth – good flavour too. Not super-concentrated, but tasty wine.
2012 François Legros, Nuits St.Georges 1er Roncières
More aromatic depth than the domaine’s Bousselots, concentration too. There’s good intensity here and very fine flavour. The structure doesn’t manage to upset the apple-cart either. A tasty wine.
2012 François Legros, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Perrières
The nose is wide and pretty with fine fruit notes – not so deep though. Lovely concentrated flavour here, and the fine acidity helps push things through the understated structure – understated versus many – at least! Very tasty.
2012 l’Arlot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Petits Plets
The nose seems concentrated and a little glossy, yet a little tight too. The last drops in the glass smell gorgeous though. The palate has good intensity and a slowly growing structure. The dark-flavoured fruit appears on the the wine’s finish. Nicely balanced…
A deep aromatic but skewed by a faint reduction, that’s slowly overtaken by the aroma of roses. Concentrated, with a lovely dimension of fruit flavour – then even more dimension in the mid-palate. This is really excellent, though for brilliant I’d like a hint more energy – but most days, ‘nearly brilliant’ is enough for me.
2012 Dufouleur Frères, Nuits St.Georges 1er Chaboeuf
High tones and quite some width – almost tending to esters. Real width and dimension on the palate – super fruit. Sauvage, meaty and a little richness too. I have to say that this atypical wine really impresses.
2012 Dufouleur Frères, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
The nose is again very high-toned. Here is a more linear and direct concentration and intensity. The complexity grows, flowing into a fine length. A wine to wait for but I love the lithe fruit expression.