2011 Nuits Saint-Georges Aux St-Julien

Etienne de Montille's American chef de cave Brian Sieve explained one of the key differences between the two cotes in 2011. "The flowering for us was excellent on the Cote de Beaune," he told me. "But conditions were cooler when the flowering occurred on the Cote de Nuits, and there was more millerandage there. We had humid southern winds in August, and we began harvesting very early on the Cote de Beaune, on August 27, and picked in a rush. On the Cote de Nuits, most sites weren't quite ready but the skins were healthier. But we still had a good-sized harvest in 2011, better than in either 2012 or 2010." Potential alcohols ranged from 11.7% to 12.7%, added Sieve, and all wines except for the Pommard Grands Epenots were chaptalized. For the cuvees vinified with 100% whole clusters, said Sieve, the team allowed the berries to be slowly crushed under their own weight, using what he described as "bucket-overs" during the middle of the fermentation but avoiding pigeages. But for the wines made from destemmed fruit (Etienne de Montille was worried about the possible presence of mildew in some sites), the estate carried out numerous pumpovers, up to three or four a day during the first days of the fermentation. The 2011 malos did not finish until last summer. Unless otherwise noted, my samples were taken from tank. (Martin-Scott Wines, Ltd., www.martinscottwines.com; Beaune Imports, www.beauneimports.com; Veritas Imports, www.veritaswine.com)

Jean-Nicolas Meo describes 2011 as "much better than 2007, with a bit more of everything."He began harvesting on September 2 with grape sugars in the 11.5% to 12% range, then chaptalized less than one degree "in increments to prolong the extraction," bringing the wines up to about 12.5%."It's still a light vintage in terms of alcohol," he told me.Meo did a pre-selection in the vineyard to nip the spread of rot in the bud, then eliminated another 10% or so of the grapes in the winery.Most of the wines had been racked once at the time of my visit, and Meo told me that he had added a bit too much sulfur, which made some of the wines tricky to taste.The 2011s, he added, are now more structured than they appeared to be last winter, and the vintage is dominated by red fruits. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, www.kermitlynch.com; also represented by Domaines & Saveurs/Jeanne-Marie de Champs; importers include Frederick Wildman & Sons, www.frederickwildman.com and Winebow, www.winebow.com)