2009 Domaine Emmanuel Rouget Nuits-Saint-Georges

The 2009 Nuits St. Georges is made from vineyards on the northern side of the village adjacent to Vosne. It is an especially sexy, perfumed Nuits with impeccable textural elegance and plenty of layered fruit that radiates from its expressive core. This saw 50% new oak. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2019. This small domaine is one of Burgundy’s best kept secrets. Emmanuel Rouget farms 8 hectares of vineyards, of which he owns 2.5. Rouget began harvesting on September 12. The fruit was 10% destemmed. Fermentation and maceration lasted about 20 days. The wines were pressed, and the sediment was left to decant naturally for two days. The wines were then racked into barrel with the fine lees. The malos were fast in 2009; they took only 4 months to complete, versus 17 for the 2008s. Rouget expected to do no rackings until the wines were prepared for bottling, with no fining or filtration. I tasted all of these wines from new oak barrels. Readers will note that some of these wines, especially at the entry-level are not aged in 100% new oak. That means the samples I tasted are not fully representative of the final wines. Ordinarily in a situation like this I would ask to taste multiple barrels, but my schedule was particularly tight on the day I visited Rouget. Of course, this is not an issue with the top wines, which are aged in 100% new oak. This is a beautiful set of wines from top to bottom. Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400

Good bright, deep red. Reserved nose hints at black cherry and chocolate. Very ripe, creamy and sweet; large-scaled for this wine. Finishes classically dry, with licorice and spice notes and very good persistence.