Winemaker Notes
An eye-catching deep ruby, with violet reflections. The first nose is complex, powerful, with mineral notes, developing into aromas that are at once both spicy and fruity, (cassis, blackberry). The mouth is typically "Nuits", a very rich wine, enveloping literally all the palate. Black fruit, such as blackberries, dominates the aromas. One also notices the finesse and depth of the tannins. The finish is clean and very elegant.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes contains 80% whole bunch fruit and was one of the last to finish its malo (it had been racked three weeks earlier). The nose is clean and fresh, nicely focused with fine delineation. The palate has a pastille-like purity on the entry, supple tannin, quite powerful but with wonderful finesse and focus toward the finish. This is a clear step up from the Clos de Thorey for me. Superb.
Range: 91-93 -
Wine & Spirits
Build a Burgundy négociant firm, buy enough vineyard land to deed your son and daughter a significant domaine, and stand back as they convert it to biodynamic practices, and you might end up with a wine that smells as great as this Nuits. It’s unforgiving in its Burgundy funk, snapping back into a rich black-cherry fragrance. That elasticity is at the core of the wine, a rangy energy that takes on the layering of oak and green spice to last on dynamism and freshness.
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Wine Spectator
A stinky nose of sulfur, earth and egg and flavors of black cherry, blackberry and violet are enhanced by bracing acidity. Plush and toasty, with a clean, spice-tinged finish. Give this time to integrate. Best from 2023 through 2036. 634 cases made, 100 cases imported.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Inhabiting the bottom end of the northern half of the Côte d’Or, Nuits-St-Georges is a busy, market-driven town and home to many of Burgundy’s negociants. It is also the largest town in the Côte d’Or after Beaune and contributes "nuits" to the name of Côte de Nuits (i.e., the northern half of the Côte d’Or).
The appellation itself is divided into two parts, where in the north it directly borders Vosne-Romanée, the southerly end is the commune of Prémeaux. There are no Grands Crus in this village, though it does have a large number of Premiers Crus.
The best Nuits-St-Georges Pinot Noir are layered with cherry, plum, underbrush and sandalwood. The fruit is sweet, the wine energetic, and the finish long and lush.