Winemaker Notes
This is a full-bodied and robust red wine. Initial aromas of damp earth and leafy underbrush quickly give way to deep red fruit and spice notes. The structure is imposing and becomes more open with aeration.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Frédéric Barnier notes that Le Vaucrain is a really balanced vineyard up and down the slope, the interplay of soil and rock, and with good water sources. The 2022 has a bright red fruit, fresh and immediate, plenty of energy, gaining in concentration through the middle, with an agreeable mineral quality to finish. Plenty of fruit to return behind. Drink from 2027-2034.
Barrel Sample: 89-91 -
Wine Spectator
Fresh and open, this red offers black cherry, blackberry and earth flavors, plus a touch of iron, all backed by bright acidity and a light dusting of tannins. Well-balanced, with moderate length. Drink now through 2035. 95 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.