Wines

From a half-hectare parcel in the commune of Nuits Saint Georges that produces in the neighbourhood of 2,400 bottles per annum. The vines are of an average age of 40 years and are planted on gravelly soil. This modest appellation produces a firmly-structured wine of rich color, bright aromatics and black-cherry flavoured fruit.

The Nuits-Saint-Georges village appellation represents the bulk of the holdings of the domaine, more or less seven hectares of vineyards spread across several parcels principally located in the northern reaches of the village on a combination of silt, sand, and gravel soils which produce a classic version of the appellation. The average age of the vineyards that compose this cuvée is 45 years. A deeply colored wine with vivacity; somewhat stern in its youth but with excellent balance and black fruit flavours.

From a 0.31-hectare parcel of 40-year-old vines planted in silty sandy soils, Domaine Chauvenet produces small quantities of a superb Vosne-Romanee from the “Aux Raviolles” lieu-dit, situated in the southern sector of Vosne-Romanee near the border with Nuits-Saint-Georges. Less firmly tannic than its Nuits-Saint-Georges brethren and with an underlying elegance from the site's sandy soils, this wine nonetheless displays chiseled tension and a lip-smacking, saliva-inducing character that is very much a signature of Christophe Drag’s wines.

A tiny parcel of just 0.17 hectares on the northern slopes of the appellation; soils are laced with clay and the vines have an excellent south/southeast exposure which insures proper ripening; planted to somewhat younger vines around 23 years average, the wine from Argillas is marked by excellent balance and purity of flavor with dominant notes of cherry and licorice married to an underlying earthiness – a classic rendition of the appellation. Only two barrels are produced annually.

Harvested from a half-hectare parcel in the northern quadrant of Nuits Saint Georges with vines that now average 30 years of age; the soil is a mix of sand and gravel which produces a wine of complex character with a seductive suppleness to its form but rigor to the finish; a wine marked by occasional notes of animal and leather as well as sweetly savoury hints of balsamic and licorice.

Perhaps the “truest” of the Nuits appellations with its central location and gravelly soil structure; vines here of 30 or so years of age yield a wine that is severe in its youth but with substantial depth. Lots of “matiere” married to a mix of fruit and minerals that permit this wine to age gracefully.

The domaine controls a small parcel of about .17 hectares; the vineyard is beautifully situated on a steep fault of white stony soil just above the more well-known 1er Cru “Perrieres”; it takes its name from the small birds (quail, pheasant) that nest in the adjoining brush and woods. The vines were planted in 1957 and, as old vines do, produce a small crop of highly concentrated grapes which tend to be amongst the first to be harvested at the domaine. Here we sense a touch of red fruit influence amongst the earth, leather, coffee aromas and flavours that we encounter frequently in this part of the Cote de Nuits.

As the Chauvenet holdings move in a southerly direction, we have the pleasure of accessing wine from the regal cru of “Perrieres”, a profoundly stony site that produces a wine of great breed and class; the domaine controls a quarter hectare of this renowned lieu-dit. A wine with a fine capacity to age, a process that reveals a most complex wine of excellent balance; one of the most elegant and intellectual wines of this part of the Cote de Nuits.

Positioned on a brown-colored mix of limestone and marl, the Damodes speaks with more finesse, a suppleness that makes this cuvée the most precocious of the premier crus of the domaine; there is lots of punch to the wine but it is enrobed by the “velvet glove” of more gentle and silky tannins.

The “grand cru” of this domaine; recognized as one of the most glorious sites within the appellation, the Chauvenet holdings here are old and produce a wine that embodies all of the wonders of Nuits Saint Georges; there is a deep fruitiness with both black and red fruits on exhibit, an earthiness that manages to be compelling and also elegant, all set upon a background of robust tannins that support a weighty but athletic wine; a wine that rewards substantial cellaring.