Winemaker Notes
'Clos des Forêts' is a single estate vineyard, known as 'monopole' in French, is home to vines of approximately 45 years old. This unique terroir covers 7.2 hectares, and is composed of multi-layered soils with clay, limestone and gravel.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The very complex, dark and spicy nose leads into a very concentrated and compact palate with a wonderful velvety texture plus terrific tension. Red Burgundy rarely has this intensity of stony minerality (although it is often suggested that this is common). And this is only just beginning to reveal all its treasures. From a seven-hecatre monopole site. From biodynamically grown grapes.
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Vinous
The 2022 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos des Forêts Saint Georges 1er Cru was also raised in 40% new oak. [Incidentally, 0.6ha will be planted with Chardonnay in 2024]. Slightly deeper in color compared to the Clos de l'Arlot, this has slightly more cohesion and complexity on the nose: dark cherries and crushed stone, a hint of wilted rose petals in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with beautifully integrated new oak, lending this a velvety veneer. It is a little plush yet with equivalent tension and a detailed, slightly piquant finish. This is an outstanding Nuits Saint-Georges from the Domaine.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Jasper Morris
A fuller purple than either Arlot cuvée, which is as normal. The bouquet holds the promise of clean fruit at optimum ripeness, but does not deliver detail at this point. Plenty of energy here, some slightly firmer tannins, correct acidity, and then the more perfumed red berry fruit, slightly more raspberry here, returns at the back. Drink from 2030-2037.
Barrel Sample: 92-93
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.