The villages of the southern Cote de Nuits are home to some of the most exalted vineyards and growers in Burgundy. Vosne-Romanee contains some of the world's most valuable vineyard real estate. Grivot is based here (across the road from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, as it happens), and of all the tastings Uncorked enjoyed up and down the Cote d'Or last November, our tasting at Grivot was the single most thrilling. For Etienne, the defining characteristic of 2023 was harmony, and his wines are seamless. They are serious, complex and structured, packed with character and compelling to taste.
Meo-Camuzet is a few streets away. Jean-Nicolas Meo learned his craft at the feet of the great Henri Jayer, and gradually reclaimed his family's vineyards from long-term sharecropping agreements to build another of the Cote's most respected domaines. Jean-Nicolas likes to destem all the fruit going into his vats, in pursuit of purity and focus. His 2023s are structured and classical.
Going strong a hundred years after Henri Gouges became a pioneer of domaine bottling, Gouges are for many the defining estate in Nuits-St-Georges, just down the road. The stewardship of Henri's great-grandsons Greg and Antoine (pictured) is winning round a new generation of fans. The wines are as age-worthy as ever, but they also show greater phenolic maturity and lusher, silkier tannins. It has a lot to do with the refinements in the winery. What hasn't changed at all is the quality of the domaine's terroirs, with plots in the greatest spots of Nuits-St-Georges. Their 2023s form a fabulous set of wines from a vintage that was generous to them in every way. /NT
