2009 Nuits Saint-Georges Village

This is a striking set of 2009s from Gouges. The estate is pursuing a slightly updated style in trying to make the entry-level wines more accessible early on. According to Grégoire Gouges the approach to the higher end wines remains the same, which is to say these remain sturdy Burgundies that benefit immensely from cellaring. The harvest at Gouges began on September 15. The fruit was 100% destemmed. Vinification started with a 3 day cold soak (at only modestly cold temperatures) followed by 10-15 days of cuvaison. The wines were racked after the malos, the lees were removed, and the wines were put back into barrel, where they finished (or were finishing) their élévage. All of the wines were aged in 20% new oak barrels.

"The vintage date was very important in 2009, and so was the yield," said Gregory Gouges. "The vintage had the potential to produce a big crop and we were afraid of getting dilution, so we held our yields under 40 hectoliters per hectare, and more like 35 for our two top wines. The sugars came quickly, and the wines could have been flat and light if the crop level had been high." Gouges noted that the family waited until September 15 to harvest. "We got a concentration of sugar but also sufficient phenolic ripeness. A lack of phenolic material would also have given an impression of dilution. It was a sunny harvest, and the grapes came in warm. Our temperature-control system can't radically chill or heat the grapes, so the fermentations were lively and quick. We pressed quickly after the fermentations but lightly. The seeds were 90% ripe, so we didn't want to do a big extraction." The malos took place in the spring, and the wines were racked and assembled in June and July. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)