Jean Chauvenet Nuits-Saint-Georges 2013 750ml

Distinguished by a colour that is both deep and steady. What inspires most about this wine is the strength and freshness of its fruity taste. The fruit odors eventually shift to those of macrated cherries, fruit pits, and liquorice; they are made up of faintly balsamic scents that evoke resin. With notes of blueberries, black cherries, blackberries, laurel, and cloves, this is a full-bodied Nuits.

Jules Verne allows Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel to savor a nice bottle of Nuits wine in Autour de la Lune (1870). One hundred and one years later, in 1971, the Apollo XV crew gave the name “Saint Georges” to a recently found lunar crater. Place du Cratère Saint Georges, Nuits’ square, completes the astronomical link. However, without any grand crus, Nuits is somewhat overshadowed by Vosne, Morey, and Gevrey. On the other hand, of Nuits’ 322 hectares, 147 ha are prime crus. Three groups comprise the premiers crus.

The premiers crus in the hamlet of Premeaux (containing Les Argillières, Clos de Marechal, and Grandes Vignes), the group immediately south of the settlement (including Les Saint Georges and Vaucrains), and the area bordering Vosne in the north (including Aux Boudots). It makes sense that the wines from the southern vineyards would pair well with Pinot from the Côte de Beaune, and the wines from the northern vines with wines from Vosne. Vaucrains, Les Saint Georges, and the other middle-range vineyards all offer a distinctive Nuits flavour, with more tannins and body.