Bright dark red. The most reduced of these 2016s on the nose today, offering scents of cherry, plum, licorice and mocha. Densely packed, fine-grained and sweet, showing terrific juicy cut and vinosity to its primary dark fruit, chocolate and violet flavors. Finishes with serious but essentially smooth tannins and rising purple fruits that saturate the mouth and leave the taste buds glistening. At once more refined and more powerful than the Vaucrains, this wine is built for a graceful evolution in bottle.

The 2016 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges was cropped at just 12 hectoliters per hectare this vintage. Like the Les Vaucrains, I just felt that the aromatics were a tad subdued compared to Les Pruliers or Les Porrets. It is nicely defined but I would like more vigor. The palate is medium-bodied with chalky tannin, here the brightness and energy belatedly beginning to shine and it shows fine tension and elegance toward the finish. It is not the greatest Les Saint-Georges that Gouges will ever make, but it comes good at the end.