2008 Nuits St Georges Les Chaignots

Tasted assembled from tank, the Chevillon 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Chaignots broadcasts an alluring aroma of sandalwood, iris, red currant, cherry, and a marine mingling of salt spray and alkali. Bright, buoyant, finely-tannic, and lip-smackingly marked by its marine mineral cast, the fruits of this site-typical Nuits take on an aura of distillate as the wine takes on air, and seem to darken and deepen as well as pick up a flattering hint of caramel from barrel when headed into it long, multi-faceted, and invigorating finish. The persistence of floral inner-mouth perfume, too, is arresting. I’ll admit – as readers may have determined by now – that I’m a sucker for this premier cru, and especially for the bright, elegant, mineral, in certain ways white wine-like cast it exhibits from the 2008 vintage, almost regardless of custodian. So if you’re like me, you might wish to imagine my score a point higher! I’m betting that this beauty will reward more than a decade’s cellaring, but I’d want to enjoy some in its youth and middle age, too. Bertrand Chevillon reported the typically late, long malos of the 2008 vintage, and the Chevillon crus were not bottled until last spring – subsequent to my tastings of them, which took place in part assembled from tank and in part from representative selections of barrels. Interestingly, Chevillons report a normal crop level, stressing that vigilance and diligence in vine treatments made for a healthy crop. Most of the musts weighed-in between 12.5% and 13% potential alcohol and chaptalization was minimal. Bernard Chevillon compares his family’s 2008 with their 2001 –an underestimation, I suspect – and his 2007s with the less interesting, structured, fresh-fruited, or consistent 2000s, an analogy that strikes me as apt. (The Bourgogne and Les St.-Georges, incidentally, had been committed right down to the bottle chez Chevillon by the time I got ‘round to tasting 2007s, hence the absence of notes on those.) Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524