1998 Nuits Saint-Georges Village

I stopped by here on a dreary, drizzly morning in early November, before the really nasty cold and snow settled in for the rest of my stay in Burgundy. Rouget's young '98s were a bit under the weather as well, and it will be necessary to follow up on these wines after the bottling. In addition to showing some of the severity of the vintage, a few of them lacked the verve and delineation one might expect from this first-rate producer in a year with reasonably low pHs. For his own part, Rouget prefers the '97s today "for their roundness and suppleness. The '98s are not exactly green," he told me, "but they seem rather dry today." The '98s were mostly racked in July and will be bottled in early spring.