2015 Nuits St Georges Les Boudots

The 2015 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots includes 15% whole bunch this year and finished its malolactic earlier according to Jean-Nicolas Méo. It has a more lush and open bouquet than the Nuits St Georges Les Murgers with patisserie scents infusing the rounded, red berry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, quite fresh and tensile with hints of sorbet orange and white pepper towards the rather strict finish. I prefer the aromatics to the palate just at this moment, but they should even out by the time of bottling.

Dark red-ruby. Ripe aromas and flavors of blackberry, black cherry, bitter chocolate, mocha and violet are nicely lifted by a stoney quality. Lush, sweet, deep and fine-grained but with good structure and inner-mouth tension; Méo added back some stems because he "wanted more seriousness here than the vintage provided." The very long finish features substantial ripe, nicely integrated tannins.

(from a 1.04 ha parcel of 60+ year old vines). Here the expressive nose combines notes of spice, various floral elements and a range of both red and dark pinot fruit aromas. The wonderfully, indeed seductively textured medium weight plus flavors brim with plenty of dry extract that buffers the firm and ripe tannins on the sleek, muscular and strikingly persistent finale. This is excellent and should amply reward extended keeping. Dec 2016, www.burghound.com