Tasted in Nuits St.Georges with Antoine Gouges, 14 June 2023.
Domaine Henri Gouges
7 Rue du Moulin
21700 Nuits St.Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 61 04 40
www.gouges.com
More reports with Domaine Gouges
Antoine is the 4th generation here, the domaine created by his grandfather in the early 1920s and they were bottling already in those early days. He’s been working at the domaine since 2011 – Antoine’s father didn’t work at the domaine and he’s recently retired – he worked in the hospitality industry. “I’d worked in Australia for year and had planned to keep travelling but somehow I got stuck in Nuits – but good stuck!”
Antoine on 2023 so far:
“This year the flowering has been very fast and in great conditions but we are edging towards becoming a bit too dry – but there was some rain last Sunday – up to 20mm in some places – but also almost none in other parts.”
Antoine on 2021:
“21 was a very wet vintage and we lost about 20% vs a normal vintage – but I think the fact that we prune quite late – our second pruning in March – mitigated the frost losses. We started to harvest in September, the 17th. We did a shorter elevage – we don’t use very much sulfur as it’s interesting for the extraction and the aromatics – so the malos were already finished in December and some wines were bottled in August – others were bottled towards the end of the year and finally the St.Georges in January. I like the purity, the energy and the terroir definition of this vintage – we know we have tannins and aging potential but I want to see some finesse in my wine – and certainly in the tannins.”
The wines…
Delicious wines that belie the domaine’s old reputation of wine that needed many years of patience before you should drink them. There are some real beauties here!
2021 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes
On the top of the hill above and behind the domaine – vines sit on the limestone – a thin soil with plenty of clay. This was blended into the Bourgogne before 2017 – a cuvée reserved for the French market. Fully destemmed.
There’s a fine point of clarity and intensity to this pure nose. Direct, nicely structured, faintly tannic. Juicy and vibrant. That’s a very good start.
2021 Nuits St.Georges
About 10 different plots – 4 from behind the domaine and the remaining more on the Premeaux side at the bottom of the hills.
Hmm – so perfumed. Incisive – structural – but NSG should be – right? Broadening over the palate – even more dynamic finishing – this has wonderful persistence and it finishes perfumed flavour.
2021 Nuits St.Georges Clos Fontaine Jacquinot
Also made since 2017 and in this case vinified with 20% whole clusters and no sulfur for the vinification just additions after the malo and to regulate for the bottling. Above and behind the domaine – a clos of about 70-year-old vines – only about 1,500 bottles separated from the ‘classic’ NSG. This vineyard is also the place where they began to experiment with biodynamics*.
Breadth, some spice elements and a fainter and very different perfume. Much more supple, comfortable texture – the tannin is grainless but still manages to frame the flavours. Delicious and rather too easy to drink…
*”Not certified but we have worked organically for 15 years now. For barrels we don’t really want to play with oak flavours – some wines will obviously accept more oak – and we go up to about one-third – but the villages, for instance, has only about 10%”
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Cailles
The only maison wine – they buy the grapes
Dark red berry fruit, sweeping, fresh and really deep. Wide over the palate, some bitters from the tannins but there’s no grain to this tannin. Its muscular but lithe, almost suggesting darker chocolate / coffee bean in the flavours. Keep this another 3-4 years, it’s very good.
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Chaignots
Vines on the Vosne side of Nuits.
A calmer nose – more in the style of the last wine than the first two. An intermediate style between the structure of the early wines and more cushioned approach of the Jacquines – but melting with fine fluid flavour. That’s a fine shape in the mouth – faintly saline too – give it a little time. The finish is virile and persistent. A super wine…
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Chênes Carteaux
‘One of the lightest from this part of Nuits on quite a steep incline with lighter – no really any problems with wild pigs or deer but there’s competition for grapes with the badgers.’
A fine extra precision to this darker fruit nose. More fluid, slightly of the structure and salinity – very moreishly juicy. Rippling waves of finishing flavour roll over the tongue – this is excellent stuff!
2021 Nuits St. Georges 1er Clos des Porrets St.Georges
3.6 hectare monopole and the largest of the domaine. Maybe ‘Porrets’ was field of pears…(?) Middle of the hill, really well exposed under the quarry – ‘it’s nearly 25% of our production. Lots of vine ages, of course – the youngest are more than 35 years old but the oldest are now about 120 years-old.’
A broader nose with complex red fruit. Incisive, nicely but not overly direct, clean vibrant flavour, framed with a modest tannin but without grain – sappy finishing – for keeping but very, very approachable.
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Pruliers
The same side as the Clos des Porrets but with a bit more of a north orientation – ‘it gets a breeze from the Huates Côtes so has a bit more freshness but complexity too.’
A dark, almost silky texture to this nose – backed with some floral components too. Broader, slightly more muscular, you can sense the cherry stones – super wine, really!
Set higher than Pruliers but not as steep as Chênes Carteaux
Less breadth but there’s more direction and a purity to this nose. Directly more impact and concentration but it remains supple and approachable, not austere, there’s some finishing tannin but neither bitter not drying – or grained. This is a complete wine – a great wine!
‘For the centenary of the domaine in 2019 we used the old label of the domaine and now we have decided to keep it.’
Not the largest nose but of absolutely beautiful fruit purity and class. Very different to Vaucrains – more direct but with an innate density – a wine of poise, minerality and fluidity – and importantly, it’s delicious too. Great wine again – also for keeping though the Vaucrains is currently the most accessible of these two in this vintage.
And their white:
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er La Perriere
This is pinot blanc/Gouges
An airy sherbety, freshness – air bringing more roundness and a hint of extra ripe yellow citrus. In the mouth there’s melting style and structure but never too much structure – some citrus bitters contributing to that. Finishing with a little lick of tannin – flavour that is really persistent. That’s a super wine, I love this style and energy. Yum!
And a few to finish:
2019 Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Porrets St.Georges
A seemingly more silky width of aroma with nicely expressed fine herbs, almost floral – the fruit is deep, dark, and with occasional flashes of the extra ripe. More open and fluid – lush – I love this fine, never too demanding, energy. A tiny grain to this tannin. Narrow finishing but very long. There’s a certain elegance to this wine.
2019 Nuits St.Georges 1er Pruliers
A higher toned nose, with more clarity and focus to these aromatics – faint spearmint. Direct, more structural wine than the clos des porrets but with juicy energy. I’d certainly be waiting longer for this wine. The finish is broad and exciting – this will be excellent but the Porrets already is! This is still easily my favourite!
2018 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Chaignots
Broad and with some higher tones – age-related extra complexity. A large scale, complex, less clarity than the 21s… A nice floral note in the still long finish
Broad, cleaner, more fruit and floral precision – that’s lovely. I like the shape of this over the palate – complex, wonderful depth of flavour – that’s a great 18!
2018 Nuits St.Georges 1er Vaucrains
For this vintage this has a very nice freshness and has an attractive breadth of spice too. Rather silky, there’s depth to this concentration too. Broad and intense with modest bitters – the nose suggesting some extra ripeness but to palate not too much. Serious and very persistent wine – a GC finish with fine texture. My personal style preference would be more to the 2019s but hats off to this.
2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Hmm much more scale/volume to this nose – aromatically complex – it’s a great invitation. Very impressive in the mouth, there’s fluidity like in 2019 but with another level of middle and finishing complexity. Persistent, wide and energetic finishing. Not of the weight of the 2018 Vaucrains – it’s more ethereal – but no less lasting on the palate. I’d give this another 5+ years but there’s already so much to enjoy…