2005 Nuits St Georges Les Vaucrains

Of all the Chevillon wines, their 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Vaucrains – like their Cailles and Les St.-Georges, from roughly 80-year-old vines – displays the greatest density, stoniest minerality, most piquant nuttiness, and deepest, darkest, blackberry and beet root “fruit” character. The overall impression is breath-taking in its sheer concentration, yet rather somber and brooding in personality, with an emphasis on piquancy, bitterness and stoniness. Toasted walnut and hickory, cherry pits, black chocolate, stones, and charred meat inform this wine’s powerful, penetrating finish. Were it not for a persistent primary blackberry juiciness and the great refinement of its abundant tannins, this would border on the hyper-concentrated. If further proof were needed that the Chevillons are in a class by themselves among the major Nuits-St.-Georges landholders, they certainly delivered it this year. Like so many other vintners, they reported backing off on pigeage this year – and heaven knows, the resultant wines don’t lack for concentration. Their Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, Bourgogne, and Nuits-St.-Georges Les Perrieres had all just been sulfured and filtered, so Bertrand Chevillon declined to show them. He was as yet noncommittal, however, about when the other wines would be bottled, although this would probably continue through Spring, and be accompanied by the estate’s usual light filtration. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524.

Good full ruby-red. Superripe aromas of black raspberry, dark chocolate and leather; a bit less minerally and floral than the Saint-Georges. Powerful, brooding and large-scaled on the palate but currently locked up tight and showing less sweetness than the Saint-Georges. But this big boy really saturates the palate. With its serious tannic clout and leathery soil tones, this is classic Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Of all the Chevillon wines, their 2005 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Vaucrains – like their Cailles and Les St.-Georges, from roughly 80-year-old vines – displays the greatest density, stoniest minerality, most piquant nuttiness, and deepest, darkest, blackberry and beet root “fruit” character. The overall impression is breath-taking in its sheer concentration, yet rather somber and brooding in personality, with an emphasis on piquancy, bitterness and stoniness. Toasted walnut and hickory, cherry pits, black chocolate, stones, and charred meat inform this wine’s powerful, penetrating finish. Were it not for a persistent primary blackberry juiciness and the great refinement of its abundant tannins, this would border on the hyper-concentrated. Apr 2007, www.robertparker.com