Domaine Henri Gouges, Nuits St. Georges Clos des Porrets Premier Cru, Burgundy, France, 2020

Overview of the Wine
The creation of Domaine Henri Gouges was the culmination of 400 years of family grape farmers, and it is, in many minds, the top domaine in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Henri formed the domaine in 1920 but was soon discouraged with selling the fruit to négociants. He envisioned a better quality wine, and by 1933, he was producing, bottling, and selling directly. He, along with the Marquis d’Angerville from Volnay, was at the forefront of battles against fraud in Burgundy in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Monsieur Gouges was one of the people charged with the job of delineating the crus in Burgundy for the Institut National d’Appellation d’Origine, and he was a member of that regulatory body at its outset.

Since the beginning, the domaine has remained an undivided family property. In 1967 Henri’s two sons, Michel and Marcel, succeeded him and added to the holdings of the estate. Each of them handed leadership over to one of their sons to bring the domaine to the next stage. Pierre and Christian began the modernization of the vineyards and the winery, which they have now turned over to Pierre’s son, Gregory, and his cousin, Antoine. While the house style has evolved, the main focus is the better reflection of the terroir in the fruit through organic viticulture. They believe that healthy vines produce quality fruit and thus more expressive terroir-driven wines.

Grape / Blend
Pinot Noir

Origin
Cote de Nuits, Cote d'Or, Burgundy, France

Winemaker Notes
This is a monopole of the domain of about nine acres. It is located just below the Perrieres. It is a former quarry of Nuits Saint Georges, which was exploited by the monks of Citeaux. Sitting on the stony pink limestone Premeaux, the Clos des Porrets is composed of calcareous scree and soil rich in clay. The wines from here express an elegant finesse after only a few years in the bottle.

93 Points - Jasper Morris
No separate HD cuvée was made this year as there was not enough wine, after the hail as well as in a dry year. Long slow fermentation and the malolactic is still happening. Black purple. Ignore the nose for now, as it shows malolactic elements. Super intensity, a bit of Bovril meatiness, really hard to judge though looks like will broadly be the same pattern as the others, though perhaps even more concentrated.

93 Points - Wine Spectator
Very ripe yet still reasonably fresh aromas are comprised by notes of roasted plum, black cherry, cassis and earth. The dense, powerful and muscular broad-shouldered flavors are supported by a very firm tannic spine on the robust, serious and very compact finale. This is quite impressive though certainly not typical.

Product size: 750ml