Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Charmois was a little tight-fisted and recalcitrant when I tasted it from barrel, possibly because it had only just finished its tardy malolactic fermentation. The palate is medium-bodied with tart red cherries, wild strawberry and a pinch of sea salt, focused with good grip, leading to a vibrant, quite peppery finish. Enjoy this over the next 12-15 years.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
Tantalizing aromas and flavors of wild cherry, currant, sandalwood and earth stay focused by tangy acidity in this elegant red. Picks up a hint of mineral on the lingering aftertaste. Drink now through 2024. 143 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.