Georges Noellat Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras

There’s very unpleasant wood and green notes throughout and extreme tartness a few seconds into the finish. Pretty undrinkable.

A wonderful positive surprise was this bottle. It showed very Vosne in characteristic, no woodiness or hardness / iron I often find in NSG, this was for the vintage fairly compact in dark berry flavour profile but also fanned out floral with time in the glass and wonderful sweetness for the vintage. A success!

At the intersection of Vosne-Romanée and Nuits St. Georges, gradually leaning towards the latter as it opened up over time, with a fine balance of elegance and robustness, of airy aroma and developing bouquets. Popped and poured in the glass, instantly oozing a lovely mix of drying rose petals and ripe raspberries, before taking on a tinge of darker fruits like boysenberry then bramble with underlying sous bois and integrated oak spices, both on the nose and palate. Drinking greatly …

Love Maxime Cheurlin’s winemaking and the Aux Cras terroir, but this bottle showed very simple and one dimensional with a ton of unintegrated oak which remained prevalent despite a lengthy decant.

PnP. Blackberry, woodsmoke, after 30 mins or so some surprising honey - almost like a rich old sweet wine - mahogany. Palate becomes richer and more concentrated with time, still mainly blackberry fruit, bramble, herbal notes, fine tannins. Some tartness from the vintage. Smooth but fresh. Long. As with the nose plenty of evidence of the oak. Even though this is young, and the parts need longer to come together, there is already so much pleasure in this wine, especially …

Just ok.

Woody, robust on the nose. Good fruit, with wild strawberries on the palate. Not too much tannin. Good balance.