Winemaker Notes
To the eye, a pure bright deep red, truly stunning. Clear and limpid, the shifting color nuances often vary, though generally tending towards fairly dark shades of garnet or violet-purple: a color that holds the eye. With age, the aromas tend towards pepper, musk, animal pelts, leather, spices, and prunes. Sometimes the bouquet hints at scents of woodland undergrowth, moss, mushrooms, damp earth, game, fruit liqueurs, and mulberries. Especially in young wines, one may well encounter scents of pine, dog roses, violets, and fresh cherries. On the palate, the wine is peaceful and dreamy, serene with age, subtle and refined; it fully reveals the complex nature of a really good Burgundy, all of the art that can be achieved through the medium of Pinot Noir grapes grown on one particular terroir. The structure is outstanding: solid, full-bodied, rich, and exceptionally harmonious. It is wholly appropriate for the qualification “Great” to precede Echezeaux in the name Grands-Echezeaux: it has that extra touch of class and vinosity along with a dense and subtle texture.
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.