2007 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos des Porrets-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

According to Gregory Gouges, Pierre's son, who is being groomed to take over winemaking at this estate, the flowering was successful in Nuits-Saint-Georges in 2008, but worse the farther north you went, and then the summer was humid and cold, and botrytis began to take root in mid-August. The north wind of September turned pourri humide to pourri sec, which made it easier to eliminate the affected grapes on the estate's vibrating sorting table. Best of all, the rotten grapes did not explode and contaminate the rest. The drying winds brought better phenolic maturity and sound sugar levels between 11.8% and 12.2%, said Gouges, as well as a better balance between the matiere and acidity. In the winery's new cuverie, there's less pigeage done and longer, cooler fermentations at lower temperature (the maximum temperature for the 2008s was only 28oC. And the wines are no longer pumped. "We're now getting better tannins, and the wines will be less austere at the beginning and need less time to open," added Gouges, who emphasized that there has been "an evolution of style here, but not a major change." Incidentally the estate is completely organic as of 2008. All the 2008s here had been racked just before the 2009 harvest, with most of the malos having finished in mid-July. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)

Christian Gouges was quite high on the recent 2008 harvest when I visited in November, telling me that his fruit came in with more sugar and more acid than in 2007. "The wines are balanced at a high level of richness," he told me. As to 2007, Gouges noted that he didn't have to do much of a selection, in part because he picked on the early side, "before the skins started to break down." Still, potential alcohols were between 12.5% and 13% and the skins were ripe. He chaptalized most of his cuvees a bit "just to give heat to the vinification." Gouges believes the 2007s are for drinking before the 2006s, especially those from the north side of the village, which he believes show less material and less tannic structure. Gouges noted that in the family's new cuverie, finished in time to handle the 2007 harvest, it's no longer necessary to pump the grapes after they've been destemmed, which means less bruising of the fruit. "We'll still make powerful, tannic wines but they should be less hard and more accessible in their youth." (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)