2007 Nuits St Georges Les Pruliers

Soy, peat, plum paste, blackberry, and crushed stone mingle intriguingly and enticingly on the nose and palate of Chevillons’ 2007 Nuits-St.-Georges Pruliers, and while there is a certain severity of tannin reinforcing its stony and smoky side, the fruit here exhibits greater clarity and the finish more refreshment and vibrant energy than in several of its immediate siblings. This multi-layered Pinot should be worth following for the better part of a decade. 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