Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru ‘Les Pruliers’ MAGNUM 2023

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 2023 Vintage at Henri Gouges

The big news here is that the domaine has essentially committed to a joint venture/lease arrangement with Domaine Stéphane Aladame, which is based in Montagny and located in the far southern reaches of the Côte Chalonnaise. As I wrote in Issue 95 explaining the deal: “…Aladame has decided to lease his vineyards to Domaine Henri Gouges in Nuits St. Georges. The arrangement is complicated and involves several different companies but a simple description would be that a new operating entity by the name of “Domaine Cavea – Famille Gouges” will be created. Complicating matters though is that Aladame will keep about one-third of the production, though not necessarily one-third of each vineyard, to continue selling under his name; for example, he will keep all of the fruit from Les Platières but won’t keep any of it from certain others. In concept, though Aladame was not 100% certain, the wines sold under the Domaine Cavea label and his own will be identical. It was also unclear as to whether either entity would continue to produce Crémant de Bourgogne.

Technically all of these changes will result in Domaine Aladame transforming into Maison Aladame. For the moment, the wines will continue to be made in Montagny though that could change over time.” In discussing the deal, Grégory Gouges basically explained that the rationale was that “it’s virtually impossible to expand our production in the Côte d’Or and even with our small négociant activities, consistently sourcing topflight fruit isn’t easy. So, we thought it would be better to try to control quality via a lease arrangement where value can still be found. Stéphane has a reputation as a first-rate vigneron and his vineyards are impeccable so it was a good match for us.”

With respect to the 2023 growing season, Gouges described it as one with “largely very warm and dry conditions with some oidium and mildew pressure but neither were really what I would call problems. However, one of the really interesting aspects of climate change is that Vaucrains and Les Perrières used to be really prone to attacks from both maladies but now it’s Pruliers that seems to be more affected. Otherwise, the only real problem that did cause some concern was a Suzukii fly attack that for some reason hit two of our vineyards so those were subjected to extra sorting care at the harvest, which we chose to begin on the 11th of September. While there was some sorting, especially for the vineyards where we found evidence of the Suzukii flies, the fruit was pretty clean so we were able to pick quickly. Yields were much higher than normal without being excessive at around 42 hl/ha, which is certainly much better than the roughly 28 hl/ha were realized in 2022 as our vineyards were hit by hail.

Potential alcohols were perfect for our preferred style of wine, which is to say between 12.5 and 13.2% so nothing was chaptalized. The vinifications were straightforward and the colors came quickly. We no longer do a cool maceration so the fermentations are more organic and quicker as well though with no loss of extractability. From the standpoint of the style of 2023, it’s perhaps not quite as ripe as 2022 but shares some of its qualities in terms of freshness and generosity though it’s less tannic and should probably drink well a bit earlier.” I was impressed by the quality and several of the wines are warmly recommended. As they have done since 2019, the domaine is now buying in mostly fruit to augment their volume though Gouges noted that they again bought nothing in the Hospices de Nuits auction in 2023 as the prices were, in his opinion, simply too high.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where are Henri Gouges Vineyards?

The Geology & Geography of Nuits-Saint-Georges