Winemaker Notes
Deep garnet color, bright like a gemstone. The aromas are as intense, but elegant. They are reminiscent of cherry jelly with hints of wood and balsam, or cedar. With age, the aromas take on gamey touches. On the palate, the wine displays flesh as well as structure and a velvety texture. Very flavorful aftertaste, evoking fruit syrups and spice infusions.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Procès offers up an expressive and fruit-driven bouquet of cherries, cassis, raspberries and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ample and exuberant palate with a voluminous core of fruit that largely conceals its firm, stony structuring tannins. Its charm and generosity make it one of the high points of the range this year.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
Procès is a comparatively obscure premier cru on the south side of Nuits-St-Georges, close to the town. This aromatic, sumptuously oaked cuvée was fermented with 20% whole bunches and has good density, concentration and grip.
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James Suckling
Very juicy and ripe with strawberry and plum aromas that offer complexity and richness. Full-bodied and layered with soft tannins and a long, juicy finish. Open and delicious already. Why wait?
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Wine Spectator
Rich and dense, displaying cherry, currant and earth flavors, wrapped in a mantle of firm tannins. Finishes on the compact side for now, with a kernel of cherry pit that leaves you wanting more. Best from 2023 through 2038.
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.