2012 Nuits St Georges Les Boudots

Tasted blind. Bright crimson. Very bright fruit – quite readable. Juicy and sweet. Very friendly already with masses of drive and fruit. A total charmer! Difficult to see this closing down… Really satisfying. (JR)

Tasted blind at the annual "Burgfest" tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru les Boudots from Etienne Grivot has a touch of reduction on the nose although underneath there lies attractive black cherry and dark plum fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded tannin, slightly lower in acidity and perhaps missing the finesse and detail of its peers. Possibly a little over-macerated? Give this a few more years to develop because there is real substance here and even in the glass, it seems to gain detail and precision.

As it was from barrel this is still noticeably reduced so if you're tempted to try a bottle in the name of science be sure to decant it first. This is a big and very rich wine with good muscle and punch to the well-detailed flavors that possess a lovely sense of underlying tension on the austere, balanced and strikingly long finish. This is a robust effort that in 2012 is more Nuits than Vosne in character. Note that my score assumes that the reduction is a passing phase.