2001 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru

Bright, deep ruby-red. Pure red and black fruit aromas complicated by notes of licorice, bitter chocolate and violet. Compelling sweetness framed and intensified by perfectly integrated acids. Thick and full yet sharply delineated and light on its feet. Really expands in the mouth and lingers on the back end. Complex and aristocratic. The deepest and longest of the Gouges 2001s, and a compelling example of the vintage. A good argument that this premier cru can produce wines of grand cru quality. Here, too, the yield was just 33 hectoliters per hectare.

Jonnson mentions he has a few reds that aren’t on the list, including the 2001 Gouges Les Saint-Georges. That’s another obvious Yes! I absolutely adore the Gouges wines, especially with some bottle age. Two thousand one is a vintage of reticent, tightly wound Burgundies that have been slow to mature. Frankly, I thought the 2001 Les Saint-Georges would be a bit more forward. Instead, it is bright, aromatically intense, and super-structured, with even more youthful intensity in its red-toned fruit than I expect. Readers who own it should be positively thrilled. What a wine!