Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru les Vaucrains has a precise bouquet that is more floral and more expressive than the Les Saint Georges at this stage. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp chalky tannin, very good acidity and a long and persistent tensile finish. This would be my pick of the domaine's three NSG '13s based on the barrel samples. This just struts its stuff with a bit more gumption.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
Lean and concentrated, displaying wild cherry, kirsch and mineral flavors. Turns supple with air, yet remains firmly structured, with a lingering aftertaste of fruit and chalky, mineral elements. Best from 2019 through 2030. 20 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.