Bright medium red. Subtle aromas of dark raspberry, musky underbrush and meat. Supple and sweet if not quite as delineated as the Les Saint-Georges. But boasts a lovely fine-grained texture to the dark raspberry and spice flavors. More minerally than chocolatey on the very long finish. This and the Les Saint-Georges will be bottled with about 13.5% alcohol.

For reports and full tasting notes, go toTim Atkin MW's website.

Tasted blind at the Burgundy 2011 horizontal tasting in Beaune. The Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains 2011 has a rather subdued bouquet at the moment despite vigorous coaxing. There is clearly a lot of stem addition here rendering the nose rather vegetal. The palate is medium-bodied with gently grippy tannins and here the greenness is less conspicuous, the finish fresh, classic, a little lean, but nicely focused. I think that leanness will sort itself out with three or four years in bottle.