An Interesting Array of Young Nuits St. Georges

• 2002 Domaine Perrot-Minot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru La Richemone Vieilles Vignes

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

  Deep center, tawny edges. Sexy nose with some caramel. Medium to full bodied. Sweet impression of deep red fruit and excellent length, but this is very, very oaky. In the end, the wood ruined it for me although there is impressive material underneath. I have had mostly bad fortune with this producer in this regard.

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• 2006 Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale

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

  Medium red with lighter rim. Fragrant with hints of green and mint. Just ever so subtly sweet with black oriented fruit. Lovely medium weight (in fact, positively lacy for a Nuits) with firmly tannic finish. Very feminine style. Excellent.

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• 2006 Sylvain Cathiard Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Thorey

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

  Light to medium color and degree of saturation. Fragrant and musky. Light weight but pungent minerality and lovely sweetness of mixed fruit. Again, like the Mugnier a more elegant style of Nuits. So utterly Burgundian in delivering exquisite flavor, balance, and length in such a weightless package. Gorgeous.

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• 2006 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers

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

  Medium ruby. Backward nose with some anise and soy on coaxing. Medium body, closed, tight, and tannic. Showing very little at this point.

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• 2006 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains

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

  Medium center with a paler edge. Compared to the Pruliers, much more open. Bigger, richer wine, slightly sweeter with mint on the palate as well. Higher acid than the Pruliers, but the tannins don't seem as harsh. Still, this is all Nuits all the time.

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• 2005 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains

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

  Deeper in color than the 2006 version. Laid back nose but some ground coffee and incipient higher notes. Entirely more weight than the younger wine, not quite as opulent as the previous time I tried it, but remarkable inner mouth fanning out of red fruit, soil, and licorice that all but bury the substantial tannins. Amazing crescendo of flavors. This is a great wine that will be immortal.

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• 2005 Domaine Michel Gros Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru

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

  Medium red with slightly lighter edge. Gamy pungency with earth and red fruit on the nose. Back to a more normal weight after the outsized Gouges Vaucrains with crisp acidity. Very, very nice but hard to taste in this sequence. Would have shown better early in the tasting alongside the lighter, more feminine wines.

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• 2006 Frédéric Magnien Nuits St. Georges Les Longecourts Vieilles Vignes

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges

  Medium color. Spicy, candied red fruit nose. Somewhere in the middle of the wines tasted today in terms of weight and concentration, but definitely has iron and earth in spades, with solid acidity and lowish tannins. Despite the sweet aromatic impression, this is not sugary at all. Very supple and enjoyable now; as opposed to the usual rap on Magnien, not obviously marked by wood either.

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Gouges was Gouges, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it was particularly eye opening to try some of the other producers such as Mugnier and Cathiard, who are making a very different style of Nuits altogether. Fascinating battle of the burly versus the more elegant--let your own preference be your guide.