Some recent 2002 Burgs

The 2002 Gouges I drank tonight encouraged me to type up some notes about other 2002s I have had in the last few months ...

• 2002 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru

  I really enjoyed this wine. A decanting and 2+ hours air time was what it needed to open up. Colour deep, dark red. A nose of tar, iron rust, dark soil, black cherry, dry underbrush and black spices. In the mouth, a big structure, tightly packed. Plenty of iron on the mid palate, with peaty earth, dark cherries and blackberries. Quite herby, with background chalk and minerals. Serious, grippy tannins yet to resolve, but fine grained ones. Gorgeous acidity. Good length, finishing quite savoury. A classic NSG, improved and softened by food. It drank absolutely the same on the second day. At the start of the drinking zone but absolutely no hurry here. I'm probably over-rating this ...

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• 2002 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru Les Pèzerolles 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  Ruby red. A decant 4-5 hours earlier (major sediment in this wine) which muted the bouquet a bit. Still, an intriguing nose, full of sauvage (but clean) aromas, with dark cherry and lots of Asian spices. On palate, a big boned, serious wine, but with refinement. I served this wine blind. Everyone was guessing versions of Côte de Nuits (Gevrey, Morey etc), not Côte de Beaune, and particularly not Pommard. If you knew the wine's identity, the leathery, savoury, earthy flavours, showed this as a Pommard, but with classic de Montille signature (of this era) purity, finesse and lovely acidity. A baby. Drinking well now it really needs 5-10 more years.

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• 2002 Mongeard-Mugneret Clos Vougeot 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  Served blind by Mike. Dark, deep colour. An attractive bouquet of dark spices, black cherries and dark florals. On palate, a leaner, more Cistercian, palate than the Pèzerolles or Clos St. Denis beside it. But serious architecture, breadth and dry extract. Good complexity but laser-like focus and beautiful acidity. Flavours largely in the dark fruit spectrum. Oak present but quite well integrated. Very precise and well balanced. Drinking well but needs more time.

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• 2002 Domaine Bertagna Clos St. Denis 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos St. Denis Grand Cru

  Even darker colour than the Vougeot. Also served blind. A more flamboyant, extracted nose than the Vougeot, with a prominent reductive note and black fruit aromas. Clearly, very ripe fruit. Also, some spicy, vanillin oak. Very luxuriant, ripe and fairly primary on palate, giving the impression of being the most worked wine of the three. It divided the room a bit with some thinking it was too oaky, varnishy and showing too much winemaker input. It was suggested to be an '03, with tasters picking '03 ripeness. I thought that the wine had excellent fruit weight to handle the serious oak but that it needs significant cellar time (10+ years) for this to properly integrate.

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• 2002 Domaine René Engel Grands-Echezeaux 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Bright, vivid red colour. Decanted 3-4 hours earlier. An attractive, spicy red-fruited nose. On palate, very pure and fairly primary with flavours of bright red berries and some subdued forest floor. There's tons of drive and power here and Grand Cru fruit weight with sleek, fine-grained tannins. Intense, rich and ripe. Returning to the bottle more than 24 hours later, the bouquet was moving towards the secondary with savoury, autumnal and underbrush nuances. The palate had similarly moved more mellow, older red plums, rather than raspberries, drinking beautifully, giving a glimpse of where it will be in 5-10 years.

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• 2002 Alain Hudelot-Noëllat Richebourg 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru

  Mike brought this wine out to match my Engel. Popped and poured. Again, a bright red colour. A lovely, pure, very spicy bouquet of dark florals, red currants, raspberries, red cherries and a little brushwood. On palate, very pure and refined, very sweet fruited, in the red fruit spectrum. All class. Very much a wine showing ripe '02 character. Silky and caressing on the palate. Beautifully integrated tannins. Ideally, give this wine 5+ years.

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