Henri Gouges
Nuits is for the true connoisseur, for most are naturally austere in their
youth, taking a long time to develop. They are not instantly fleshy and
crowd-pleasing like the neighbouring Vosne Romanée wines. This combination
of tightness and purity is intriguing, but one needs to be patient to reap
the rewards. They are in consequence, often misunderstood.
The popularity of Nuits in the first half of this century meant there were
many abuses of the appellation and confidence in it was lost. Added to that
there are no Grand Cru vineyards, it has never really been taken seriously
since. There are some truly excellent wines that are better than some more
famous Grand Crus
and thus merit attention – and the prices are still good.
There is no filtration of the wine here at Domaine Gouges, which
further enhances the incredible purity of fruit. The domaine is now firmly
established back at the top under the direction of Christophe in the Cellars
and his cousin Pierre in the vines.
Gouges’ cellar is made entirely of Premier Cru wines (there are no Grand
Crus in Nuits) of which they produce seven, including the great rarity of
albino Pinot Noir, discovered in 1938 by Henri Gouges and now known as Pinot
Gouges. The vineyard is farmed on a Lutte Raissonnée regime, encouraging the
typicality of the individual terroir to be expressed. As always, Christophe
looks a bit like the mad professor out of back to the Future. He is
keen to point out that his wines are bottled by hand – with a candle – his
new cellar will allow longer storage. Herbicides are to be banned in Nuits
St Georges. Lutte raisonnée is what he’s doing – he says he’s almost
biodynamic. He says ‘the vines are ready for it, I’m not’, so I think it’s a
mind over matter thing.