2008 Nuits St Georges Vieilles Vignes

Medium red. Very ripe aromas of red cherry and minerals, plus a faint lactic note. Firm acidity is juicy but not green, giving good shape to the flavors of redcurrant and raspberry. Nicely broad wine with good stuffing but I expected a bit more definition. I'd wait two or three years. Incidentally, Betrand Chevillon considers 2008 to be a millesime de garde , comparing these wines to the family's 2001s.

Smoked meat and fresh red currant and red raspberry in the nose of Chevillons’ 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Vieilles Vignes lead into a bright, tart-edged, saliva-inducing palate performance that finishes with vintage-typical exuberance and invigoration, its bit of astringency easily forgiven it. I’d be inclined to plan on serving this over the next 4-6 years bearing in mind its vivacious and tart personality, though perhaps compensatory polish and deepening of flavors will reward those who hold out a few years longer. 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

Bit dull. Solid and heavy. (JR)