Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Pruliers Premier Cru 2019
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Spectator
Wine -
Morris
Jasper
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Located on the south slope of the village, the domain'es two parcels are assembled during the vinification. This Premier Cru heads uphill from about 800 feet above sea level. One finds a great complexity of soil, from the flush rock to the scree coming down from the top. Vines are an average age of about 50 years. This Premier Cru is a powerful and well-structured wine with good aging potentia.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is taut, with firm tannins and a layer of oak gripping the cherry, black currant and mineral flavors, showing a well-defined beam of fruit at the center. Balanced on a linear frame, this needs a few years to find its equilibrium. Best from 2024 through 2043.
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Jasper Morris
Very reductive. Dense, almost sombre purple. A little toastiness too. Will rack end November to bottle Feb/March, and it needs the racking. Sweetly ripe, very dense, dark cherry here, not too cooked but it is quite a monster on the dark side. Just give it twenty years… Just a little fresher at the finish.
Barrel Sample: 90-94
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The creation of Domaine Henri Gouges was the culmination of 400 years of family grape farmers, and it is, in many minds, the top domaine in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Henri formed the domaine in 1920 but was soon discouraged with selling the fruit to négociants. He envisioned a better quality wine, and by 1933, he was producing, bottling, and selling directly. He, along with the Marquis d’Angerville from Volnay, was at the forefront of battles against fraud in Burgundy in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Monsieur Gouges was one of the people charged with the job of delineating the crus in Burgundy for the Institut National d’Appellation d’Origine, and he was a member of that regulatory body at its outset. Since the beginning, the domaine has remained an undivided family property. In 1967 Henri’s two sons, Michel and Marcel, succeeded him and added to the holdings of the estate. Each of them handed leadership over to one of their sons to bring the domaine to the next stage. Pierre and Christian began the modernization of the vineyards and the winery, which they have now turned over to Pierre’s son, Gregory, and his cousin, Antoine. While the house style has evolved, the main focus is the better reflection of the terroir in the fruit through organic viticulture. They believe that healthy vines produce quality fruit and thus more expressive terroir-driven wines.
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.