Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru ‘Clos des Porrets’ 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

**Available from March 2022**

About Henri Gouges

Henri Gouges has a long continuous history in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Nuit-Saint-Georges rests on the Southern border of Vosne-Romanée.

The creation of Domaine Henri Gouges was the culmination of four hundred years of family grape farmers. Henri formed the Domaine in 1920, but was soon discouraged with the idea of selling the fruit to négociants. He envisioned a better quality wine from his new Domaine, and by 1933 was producing, bottling and selling directly. It has remained an undivided family property as the transition continued from Henri to his sons Marcel and Michel, to the next generation of Pierre and Christian who have recently turned it over to Gregory and Antoine Gouges.

Located in the heart of the “Cote d’Or” in the village of Nuits Saint Georges, they have grown to thirty-six acres of vineyards and a modern gravity flow winemaking facility where they produce Bourgogne, Village and Premier Cru wines.

Henri’s philosophy from the old maxim, “It is on the vines that great wines are made” has endured through each subsequent generation. Respecting the land, the environment, and the traditions of the region have been at the heart of their winemaking. Great care to nurture the soil and vines has lead to the highest quality fruit while controlling yields for optimum results.

The Style

The wines of Nuits tend not be as masculine as the wine of Gevrey-Chambertin or have the immediate opulence of Vosne.

In the 1990’s Gouges used to make quite chewy reds with whole-bunch and cold soak influence. Over time they have been looking to evolve their style, making finer wines. The videos in the offer show the rebuilt winery, the exceptionally gentle fruit handling, and, berry by berry sorting, with gravity used to move fruit.

The 2019 Vintage at Henri Gouges

Grégory Gouges described the 2019 growing season as one that was “hot and even drier than 2018 yet one that produced wines that are less atypical than 2018. Because it was so hot and dry, there really wasn’t much disease pressure other than a bit of mildew in Chaignots that cost us perhaps 5% of the potential yield. We picked from the 14th of September and brought in fruit that was so clean that there really was very little lost to sorting. Yields came in around 30 hl/ha, which is typically what we shoot for. For example, in Les St. Georges, we aim to have yields of between 25 and 30 hl/ha, which we view as reasonable. However, compared to the 9 hl/ha we realized in 2016 and the 20 hl/hl we obtained in 2018, 30 hl/ha all of a sudden seems quite generous! Potential alcohols were mostly between 13.5 and 14.5% and because it was clear that the fruit had a very high level of extractability, we chose to vinify very softly. As to the wines, they are rich, concentrated and built-to-age with surprisingly good transparency to the underlying terroir. I quite like them and believe that they should age extremely well.” 

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where are Henri Gouges Vineyards?

The Geology & Geography of Nuits-Saint-Georges