Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru ‘Les Perrière’ Blanc 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

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 2022 Vintage at Henri Gouges

Grégory Gouges described the 2022 growing season as one with “exceptionally hot and very dry conditions punctuated by hail in the southern part of Nuits. As such, our yields weren’t all that different from what they were in 2021, which is to say that we brought in yields in 2021 of around 25 hl/ha whereas in 2022 they were around 28 hl/ha. But they weren’t uniform as what we obtained in say Chaignots, which is situated in the northern part of Nuits, was more generous than in what we obtained in Les St. Georges, Les Vaucrains and Les Chênes Carteaux, which were off about 20%. The worst hit was our parcel in Les Crots, which took out about 70% while Pruliers and Clos des Porrets were off between 5 and 10%. So, putting aside the damage in Les Crots, while nothing was catastrophic, if you add everything up, 2022 was not an abundant vintage for us. We picked from the first of September and because the fruit was so clean, we could harvest very fast. Moreover, to be sure we could get the fruit in fast, we employed over 100 pickers! We did our usual vinification of between 12 to 14 days of cuvaison and the wines finished bone-dry from an analytical standpoint, which is always a good thing. As to the style of the 2022 reds, they’re ripe and firm but not really especially tannic as they have velvety textured. I think that they will age well as they’re well-balanced and yet they’re not so firm that they couldn’t be enjoyed young if that’s what a given client likes from a fruit profile.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where are Henri Gouges Vineyards?

The Geology & Geography of Nuits-Saint-Georges