2009 Nuits St Georges Aux St Julien

The 2009 Nuits St.Georges Aux St. Juliens is a powerful, earthy wine loaded with dark fruit, sweet herbs and tobacco. This is a pretty rustic style, but it comes together nicely with air. The Aux St. Juliens has 67% whole clusters. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2019. Etienne de Montille began harvesting on September 5 in 2009 in order to maintain as much freshness as possible. Natural alcohols came in between 12.7% and 13.2% slightly higher than the range de Montille prefers. My sense is that some of the entry-level 2009s could have used a touch more density, but the higher end wines are quite successful across the board. The 2009s were aged on their lees and were not racked until they were prepared for bottling, which began in September 2010, the first time de Montille had bottled 1er Crus before the following harvest. I tasted most of the 2009s from tank, where they were settling before bottling. De Montille did not plan to fine or filter any of the wines in tank. Readers will find additional notes on the estate’s 2008s on www.erobertparker.com. Various American Importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808