2010 Nuits-Saint-Georges

Lalou Bize-Leroy is always among the first growers to bottle, as she was once again in 2010. Therefore, I have chosen to present final, in-bottle reviews of the 2010 reds along with the Domaine Leroy and D'Auvenay 2010 whites. All of the wines came in at or near the top of my barrel scores. Thinking back to the day I tasted the 2010s from barrel in a very empty-looking cellar, I am reminded, that, as elsewhere, the already minuscule quantities of these wines was made even smaller by the mercilessly short crop in 2010. Readers who can find the wines should not hesitate. In this vintage, the Leroy wines are deeply marked by terroir. Although I don't share all of her views, tasting with Lalou Bize-Leroy is always a fascinating experience, as everything she does is informed by the deepest and most total conviction imaginable. There is no more ardent exponent of the most fundamental of all Burgundian values – the concept of terroir – than Lalou Bize-Leroy.

This is a knock out set of wines from Lalou Bize-Leroy. Cold weather during the flowering reduced her already minuscule yields even further. As in many domaines, the most dramatic proof of the low yields was in the skimpy number of barrels to be seen in the cellars. There are a number of totally transcendental wines in this lineup. As always the wines were made with 100% stems and aged in 100% new barrels. The 2010s are notable for so many reasons, most importantly of all, though, they provide a window to the essential qualities of many of Burgundy's top sights as seen through the lens of one of the region's most brilliant and inspired vigneronnes.