2008 Nuits St Georges Les Roncieres
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Tasting notes
The 2008 Nuits St. Georges Roncieres offers up dark fruit, pine, menthol, spices and new leather. The wine gains volume and depth on the mid-palate, with notable expansiveness and richness. Silky tannins are layered into the elegant, persistent finish. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2018. This is a gorgeous set of wines from Etienne and Marielle Grivot that captures the essence of several of Vosne’s most illustrious vineyards. Grivot encourages slow malos and leaves the wines on the lees for approximately 15 months after the vinification. New oak ranges from 15-20% for the villages, 30-50% for the 1ers and 40-70% for the grands crus. Based on the wines I tasted 2009 looks like a much more consistent vintage than 2008. The finest 2008s are also well worth considering, but there are more highs and lows, especially in the entry part of the range. Importer: Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Napa CA; tel. (707) 299-2600
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Good full red. Deep, smoky aromas of redcurrant, minerals and game, plus a whiff of spice. Sweet and lush, but with a tangy smoky minerality and sound acidity lending finesse to the rather generous mid-palate. Finishes broad and vinous, with good length.
A very fresh nose of primarily red berry fruit, wet stone and pungent earth nuances that merge into racy, intense and beautifully focused medium-bodied flavors that are supported by unusually fine tannins for this appellation and excellent length. This could surprise to the upside if it adds depth in bottle. Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan30,2010.
The Grivot 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Roncieres displays pungently briny, alkaline, animal, slightly reductive notes in the nose, so that where the corresponding Les Charmois reminded me of sardines, here anchovies come to mind – by no means unpleasantly, I hasten to add! A tricolor melange of blackberry, blueberry and red currant marries nicely with the wine’s pronounced mineral and animal (or piscine) aspects, and there is a striking combination of creamy richness of texture as well as hints of vanilla and caramel with persistently bright juiciness of fresh berries and invigorating salinity. Rosemary oil bitterness and crushed stone add interest without diminishing from the lip-licking, saliva-inducing aspects of a long finish. Grivot says he has been discovering and bringing out “a sort of garrigue character” in his Roncieres as he works the site’s soils more intensively. This fascinating Nuits-St.-Georges should prove versatile at table for at least 10-12 years. David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate Jun 2010
About the producer
A benchmark name in Vosne-Romanée, Domaine Jean Grivot is one of Burgundy’s most respected estates. They have an impressive array of vineyards, including plots in Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot, Echezeaux and Richebourg.