2020 Côte de Nuits

With Richebourg and Cros Parantoux as neighbours, you can expect great things from this vineyard. Amélie has five separate plots across half a hectare. The site is so steep and inaccessible that no tractors can reach it, and all work is done by horse or hand. The 2020 has 40% whole bunch, which helps give the already exceptionally concentrated fruit some lift and flow. It is so persistent on the finish, with Vosne’s powerful, velvet-like tannins.

This clos is a monopole of the domaine found right at the centre point of Gevrey, between the grand cru slope and the Combe de Lavaux. It experienced lots of millerandages in 2020 (small berries) and the wine has an incredible concentration expressed with exquisite finesse. This is absolutely delicious, with red-fruit power and mineral length. Clos du Fonteny is always one of Bruno’s personal favourites.

Duroché owns a sizable 1.2 hectare parcel of this premier cru, and it is arguably the cuvée that best defines the estate. There’s a coolness here, with dancing tannins and incredible purity. Lavaut balances a freshness, due to its position at the base of the Combe, with an opulence of fruit from the vineyard’s south facing site, and this is a benchmark example.

Mazis is the most northern of the Gevrey grands crus, and is renowned for making some of the most seductive wines amongst them. The Faiveley plot benefits from some very old vines, some of which were planted in 1930. This is sleek and seductive, with a rich, detailed, luxurious feel about it.

The domaine has vines in two plots on either side of Nuits: Les Chariots in the south and Aux Lavières in the north. There is a Chambolle signature woven through the Nuits fruit here; the wine has nice firm structure yet remains silky overall.

This tiny premier cru is set in a dip that was once a quarry (as the name alludes to). Full of black cherries, with a creamy texture and silky length. Structured and complex.

One of three grand cru sites in the Lamarche cellar. This is often the most understated. It has a hedgerow and light graphite scent in 2020, with a fine lacy texture on the palate. This should age gracefully in bottle.

Nicole has three parcels within this grand cru, one in the northwest corner (where everyone wants to be) tucked up next to Musigny. The three add complexity and layers to the finished wine. This is a highly complete and poised wine in 2020. Spiced, fruit-packed, with density and length, and satin-like tannins.

This wonderful parcel sits just beneath the cluster of houses in the village centre. It makes such a sweet and long wine in 2020, with a brilliantly deep fruit core. Perfumed and spiced, with great tension.

This well-positioned vineyard on the Vosne side of the appellation sits on the slope, enjoying plenty of sunshine and the cooling ventilation of a constant breeze, keeping the fruit in excellent health during the growing season. The vineyard is on the border with Vosne-Romanée and the wine shows so much of its neighbour’s finesse as well as concentration, with Nuits’ bite and grip.

This is the vineyard that lies right next to the family home and winery, extending out like a garden from the cellar doors. Marie-Christine and Marie-Andrée’s father had rented it to a neighbour, but the well-maintained vineyard came back under the domaine’s control again from 2017. It is a full-bodied, deeply-fruited village wine with superb density and a cool, blackberry character, with volume and mineral tension.

This shows the delicious combination of grand cru structure and length, with the sweet fruit note of morello cherry. This is Maxime at the top of his game.

This is one of Ghislaine’s greatest cuvées. The 2020 has an intensely aromatic nose. It is just so Pinot, bursting with gorgeous pomegranate aromas, a fresh red berry acidity on the palate, and brilliantly lacy tannins. Picked early enough to keep a wonderful freshness.

This wine’s power and energy usually dominate when young, but this 2020 is already showing wonderfully expressive smoky character. It may have the most structured tannins in the cellar, but it might just be the best.

Beaux Monts is always one of the most impressive wines from this cellar. It is a beautiful vineyard in Vosne, and one of Etienne’s personal favourites. It is intense and energetic, with beautifully constructed tannins. The ageing potential is dialled up here. It is a wine of tremendous finesse already, but also one that promises much more in the years to come.

Clos de Vougeot is a huge vineyard, so it matters where you’re placed. Jean-Marc Millot’s plot is in Grand Maupertui, which borders Grands-Echézeaux, often considered the finest part of the vineyard. This is a big wine in 2020, with black licorice, raspberry, and salty minerality. Ample and distinguished.

This premier cru neighbours Richebourg, and has a lot of limestone on the soil. This gives the wine great definition and drive on the palate. As ever, it is quite a broad-shouldered wine, with good stature promising ageing potential. But there is also Vosne’s classic velvet power in the fruit, matched with some toasty oak.

This vineyard is a monopole of the estate which has been in the hands of the family since 1860. Where the Brûlées is firm and structured, Clos de Réas is more lithe and supple, with a sophisticated flavour palette of blood oranges, crushed raspberries, and fresh rosemary. It is both opulent and refined.

These vines were planted in 1947, and the wine they have made in 2020 is exquisitely svelte, with exceptionally fine tannins. There is a controlled power within. Absolutely glorious.

Aux Boudots is a magnificent vineyard that borders Aux Malconsorts in Vosne. It produces some of the most luxurious and decadent wines of Nuits, with much of its neighbours character intertwined with its structured and muscular frame.

This old vine parcel of Clos de Vougeot comes from two parcels in the Clos: one third from the Petits Maupertuis, next to Grands Echezeaux, and the rest from the parcel next to Grivot’s, just below Château de La Tour. It has a distinctly dark, brooding fruit profile, its muscular tannins drenched in cassis. Clos de Vougeot excelled in 2019, and this is yet another superb example. The vineyard’s propensity for large frame and broad structure are the perfect template for 2019’s ripe and lively fruit. This has a dialled-up intensity, and should age for decades.

This is one of the best terroirs among Morey’s premiers crus, just below Clos de la Roche. It has the suavest touch of reduction on the nose, making it wild yet noble. Voluminous and rich, but with 2020’s freshness and delicious tannins. I ask this every year: is this the best value premier cru red to be found?

Stéphane’s parcel of 65-year-old vines lie right in the heart of the old Clos, the original part of the appellation. It shows delicate salinity and fragrant fruit depth. Truly grand cru. Understated but hugely impressive.

This vineyard has the unusual honour of spanning grand cru (Clos de la Roche), premier cru, and village. Stéphane’s parcel lies right in the middle of the lieu-dit, and thus the premier cru sector. Only 400 litres have been made in 2020, so this brilliant wine will be scarce. It has satisfying richness and brilliantly proportioned freshness.