2019 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Pruliers 1er Cru

Denis Chevillon was on hand to guide me through the very impressive follow-up to their outstanding 2018s as this domaine consolidates its position as the yardstick for the appellation. (His elusive brother Bertrand is always busy somewhere else in the winery.) “We started the picking on 17 September with the Les Perrière and Roncières and finished on 25 September,” Chevillon told me. “We had only around half the crop because of the lack of juice caused by the frost, poor flowering and the heat during the summer. Everything is de-stemmed and the Premier Cru aged in 30% new oak. The wines will be bottled next March.”

Everything is pretty straightforward at Chevillon and the result is consistently gorgeous, fruit-driven, complex wines that stylistically remind me of Grivot in Vosne-Romanée. As usual, the Les Saint-Georges and Les Vaucrains both excelled and had their noses further ahead than other Premier Crus. The only question mark hung over the Les Roncières that displayed suspect over-ripeness and might have benefitted from picking one or two days earlier. That aside, it is full-steam ahead for Chevillon.