Burgundy, Part 1c: Cote de Nuits

The 3rd installment of Lee Watson's look at Burgundy.

(The rest of Cote de Nuits)

• Nuits-Saint George:

The second largest commune in Cote de Nuits after Gevrey-Chambertin, this commune is large and like Clos de Vougeot in the fact that sometimes people will over charge for wine because the name is famous. There are no Grand Crus now until the Cote de Beaune. The wines here have good depth and finesse with good structure and richness for 1er Cru level. Some of the best 1er Cru’s are on the border with Vosne-Romanee. Half way through the commune is the town Nuits-Saint-George and it splits the vineyards in half the southern vineyards 1er Cru’s all on the slopes. This Commune can produce some good 1er Crus, but as said before get to know the grower as this 1er Cru and villages status can be abused with lazy wine making.

• Premeaux:

This commune is next as you drive down the N74 and leave the last 1er Cru on your right hand side up the slope, all the 1er Cru and villages appellations will be labelled as Nuits-Saint-George and the 1er Cru can be more like the 1er Crus of the north Nuits-Saint-George that borders Vosne-Romanee and they produce a good sturdy and masculine wine. Both these communes produce awesome wines, but you must be aware of the name being taken advantage of.

• Comblanchien / Corgoloin:

From the last 1er Cru of Nuits-Saint-George in Premeaux called Clos de la Marechale you are now entering in to 3km of Village status communes before you go into Cote de Beaune. Like in the north of Cote de Nuits you have Brochon and Fixin; these will all be labelled as Cote de Nuits Villages. Out of the whole Cote de Nuits there are some great Cote de Nuits Village wines which I recommend to only buy depending on the grower you know or have been recommended. Cote de Nuits Village wines are not expensive and deserve a try to introduce your self to Cote de Nuits wines; it will be a simple trial and error situation.

General notes for Cote de Nuits

Each wine will be labelled as either:

• Hautes-Cote-de-Nuits (from all the vineyards outside the commune appellations)
• Cote de Nuits Village (either from Comblanchien, Corgoloin in the south or Brochon and Fixin in the north)
• Under just the name of the commune (i.e. Gevrey-Chambertin)
• 1er Cru, naming the vineyard & Commune(i.e. Gevrey-Chambertin, 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jacques)
• Grand Cru, naming the vineyard & Commune(i.e. Chambertin, Grand Cru)

There is one more appellation its time to mention and that’s Hautes-Cote-de-Nuits, wines with this on the label are from the vineyards all over the cote de Nuits, all around the village vineyards and the 1er Cru vineyards. Land that isn’t considered to be good enough for village level will be under this appellation. There are now over 1,400 Hectares under vine, which 85% is red. Be careful when you buy a white under this appellation, in my mind you’re probably better to buy a white from Cote Chalonnaise or buy a Chardonnay Bourgogne. You can get good reds, but buy from a hot year like 2003, 2005 or even maybe 2009 (yet to be tasted). The white should be ok for a 2007, choose only good vintages for Hautes-Cote-de-Nuits.

Our recommendations:

  Domaine des Perdrix, Nuits-Saint-George, 1er Cru Aux Perdrix,         2005 $660

If you have any comments let us know here.

Next week: Cote de Beaune