2009 Nuits St Georges Les Boudots (Domaine Gagey)

The 2009 Nuits St. Georges Les Boudots is a big step up from the villages. It is a seamless, totally harmonious wine layered with dark cherries, licorice and spices. The fruit builds nicely towards the round, sensual finish, while the silky tannins add to an impression of considerable elegance. Les Boudots is on the border with Vosne-Romanee. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019. I tasted an impressive range of wines with Jacques Lardiere and his successor Frederic Barnier, who is slated to take over when Lardiere retires at the end of 2012. Jadot makes a mind-bending number of wines, but I limited myself to the best 35 or so examples. In 2009 Jadot began harvesting on September 6. All of the reds were made from 100% destemmed fruit. Maceration times varied from wine to wine, but according to Lardiere all of the wines were made with essentially the same approach. Lardiere is another of the producers who compares 2009 to 1959, and believes the wines will age well because of their density of fruit and minerality. Many of the estate’s own vineyards are farmed biodynamically, but of course Jadot also sources a significant amount of wine from other growers that is not necessarily from biodynamically farmed vineyards. Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756

Sweet spicy oak, ripe and well defined fruit. Soft, smooth, ripe tannins. Lovely expressiveness. Good muscular Pinot. (RH)

Medium red. Brooding black cherry, cassis, pepper and menthol aromas. Dense and sweet but closed; distinctly more tightly wound than virtually all of the Cote de Beaune wines at this address. This solid, very youthful wine offers plenty of texture, and good length, but is not yet expressing itself.