Nuits-Saint-Georges
Le Coteau des Bois 2016
Nuits-Saint-Georges is one of those magical names that visitors recite like a rosary. Known the whole world over, Nuits-Saint-Georges has the original profile of a genuine wine village, but on the scale of a small town.
Origin
Famed the world over, Nuits-Saint-Georges has the original character of a true wine village but the size of a small town. Halfway between Dijon and Beaune, and with an easterly exposure, the vineyards of Nuits-Saint-Georges spread over 6 kilometres, with 160ha of Village-appelation vines. The range of soils, exposure and locations here creates a great diversity of terroirs. The area is bisected by the valley of the Meuzin river, and the village itself.
The grapes were selected a ten meters or so from our winery, "Les Ursulines", on the plot "Le Coteau des Bois". This very deep plot is exposed full-east and adjacent to the Bois de Charmois.
Viticulture
Harvest date: 2 October 2016.
The grapes were handpicked. They were sorted a first time in the vineyard and again on the sorting table when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: Maceration lasted a total of 23 days including one week of cold maceration (12°C). Fermentation used indigenous yeasts only (no additives such as enzymes or tannins were used). Infrequent punching of the cap (8 maximum).
Ageing
Maturation: aged on the lees for 16 months with no racking using a proportion of 35% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a very delicate touch of oak to the wine.
Bottling
Bottling: The wine was not fined but was very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in April 2018.
Number of bottles: 500 & 200 magnums.
Vintage
2016 , small is beautiful!
Small volumes, but lovely fruit overall. This is expected to be a great vintage, confirmed by the first tastings in spring. Vintage 2016 offers fine surprises with wines of potentially high quality. White wines have fine fruit aromas, with good body and will be ready to drink while young whereas the red wines are powerful, tender, concentrated and will be ideal for ageing. The harvest was one-third down on average because of the frost that struck the region on 28 April, causing a lot of irreversible damage. This was all the more frustrating as the summer was very hot and sunny, resulting in very dense berries with thick skins, promising concentration and intense wines, but with low yields.
Ageing potential: from 7 to 10 years.
Tasting notes
The color is dark red with garnet reflections. The very complex nose exudes aromas of fresh red fruit with some slightly musky and smoky notes. On the palate, this very concentrated wine with a good length, reveals silky tannins in the finish.
