Winemaker Notes
The nose expresses wild and complex fruity aromas, combined with spicy notes. True to its reputation as a more muscular wine, the palate is dense, with notes of white pepper and chili, leaving a long, lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Spice- and earth-driven with a lovely restrained edge, giving aromas of cherries, bark, blood oranges, charcuterie, dried rose petals and graphite. The palate is chewy and tactile, with firmly framed tannins and focused acidity, finishing with a mineral undertone. There is a lot of complexity and character to come with more time in the bottle.
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Vinous
The 2023 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos des Forêts Saint Georges 1er Cru has a detailed and complex bouquet with a mixture of red and black fruit, a subtle estuarine influence and light graphite scents that surface with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with dark berry fruit. This is the most opulent and richest of the cuvées from the Domaine, attributable to the terroir. A dash of white pepper and allspice lingers on the finish. Excellent.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
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.