2008 Nuits St Georges Les Bousselots

Its dark color and deep, intense aromas of licorice, black raspberry, beet root, and peat, render Chevillons’ 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Bousselots a remarkable contrast with its Chaignots sibling. Sweetly-ripe dark berries, peat bogs, fruit pits, and medicinal herbs inform a palpably-dense, fine-grained palate and in a long, finish emerges a savory salinity that draws saliva and invigorates. This should be worthy of attention for the next 10-12 years. 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

(60-year-old vines; racked two weeks before my visit) Good full red. Perfumed aromas of black fruits, violet and licorice. Denser and deeper than the Chaignots, with more energy to the flavors of black fruits, minerals and flowers. This boasts lovely energy and lift and finishes with excellent purity and definition.

Rich and seductive. Chewy. Dense. (JR)