Chevillon, Gouges, Michel Gros, Meo-Camuzet
Nuits-St-Georges is as significant a town in Burgundy terms as Beaune, yet apart from an irritating set of traffic lights it is scarcely notable as you drive through or past on the way to another appointment. Beaune has the walls, and the attractive Hospices, where Nuits has the docks and perhaps that's why it's undervalued. Beaune is fancy pants; touristy. Nuits is a down-to-earth and slightly down-at-heel working town. Yet historically for many Brits this was the home of that now elusive creation: the hearty red Burgundy. Yes, some Nuits can be foursquare and it doesn't have the glamour of its own grand cru (yet) but it can and does produce some fabulous, good value wine.
Take Gouges, one of the best producers, where Greg is in charge - an archetypical Nuits-ien who likes nothing better than unwinding with an old car to fettle. The wines have changed for the better and more elegant under his leadership, while retaining their amazing ability to age.
Arguably, Robert Chevillon's wines have always had that elegance and have avoided the solidity that can be a hallmark of lesser properties. The wines are big, but elegant and beautifully balanced.
Of course Michel Gros has been an old favourite for years. The hallmark of the domaine is a gentle approach in the cellar following meticulous work in the vineyards. The wines are those of seduction rather than extraction and use of oak is kept under control too. When even the Hautes Cotes de Nuits is brilliant, then you know you're on a winner.
Unlike a lot of people I know, Jean-Nicolas Meo, of Meo-Camuzet, gets more human every year. But like many, he was exhausted after the 2013 season. 2012 looks like 2010 with less acidity. Jean-Nicolas looks for charm to express his vineyards and is experimenting with an increased use of whole clusters in most wines, where ripeness allows. Not everyone is a fan of this and the true results only really show after about ten years of ageing. But already he sees greater length and more woven tannins. /CW
