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Marchand-Tawse Nuits St Georges 2020

Appellation
Nuits St Georges
Region
Côte de Nuits
Vintage
2020
In Stock
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$99.00
 
SKU: EMAR02R-20
Overview

This village Nuits St Georges is an assemblage of three parcels, 'Les Allots' and 'Aux Lavieres' on the northern side of town nearer to Vosne-Romanee; and 'Les Maladieres' on the south side of town. The wine is ruby and bright with the fresh berry of youth, but with a structure that shows Pascal Marchand's judicious use of oak with light, sweet toast. Charming now, but will age beautifully.

Winemaker
Vintage

BURGUNDY 2020 VINTAGE

With so many winemakers finishing their 2020 harvest before the end of August, everyone here in Burgundy expected that this hot, sunny vintage would produce atypical wines, overripe, fat and flabby. Why it did not is a mystery to this day.

In fact, 2020 Burgundy, both red and white, is being lauded by the Press and professionals alike as an exceptional vintage, brilliantly fresh, pure, elegant and focused. Yes, the wines are ripe and concentrated, but there is good acidity that more than brings things into balance. This, in fact, defines the Burgundy 2020 style: high acidity and high concentration.

So let’s look, as we do every year, at how the growing season developed, to try to get some idea of what shaped these unexpectedly energetic wines.

In a word, from start to finish, 2020 was precocious. After a mild and humid winter, the vegetative cycle started a month early under sunny skies, with bud burst in mid-April and the first Chardonnay flowers in early May. Then the weather deteriorated. Pinot Noir flowered in cool, damp conditions, and was less successful than Chardonnay, explaining the smaller Pinot crop.

From that point on, there is not much to report weatherwise. It was hot and dry from June through to the end, the driest year since 1945. The grapes started to change color in mid-July, and harvest in August seemed likely.

Now you may think that an August harvest lets everyone get their jobs done and go home early. But remember that there is a big difference between the heat and luminosity of an August afternoon and the cooler, shorter days of September. When maturity comes galloping at you in August, you have to react quickly; a day or two can mean considerable differences in acid and sugar levels.

Indeed, there may have been more stress on the winemakers than there was on the vines. 2020 was in fact an easy growing season, dry, with little risk of fungal problems. The tough part was deciding when to harvest. Do you put off harvesting to try to get to phenolic maturity, or do you pick sooner to keep acid levels up and to avoid higher alcohol levels?

Many opted to pick early. And for the most part, it proved to be the right decision…though we still do not understand why! 

Many 2020 wines have alcohol levels of 13%-14%, but many are higher. Delaying picking increased the potential alcohol levels by as much as a degree a week.

At the same time, good levels of phenolic maturity gave ripe, but not overripe tannins. Some call the 2020s ‘crunchy’, which is a tannin level riper than ‘green’ but less than ‘fine’.

Total acidity was generally high, but most of that was tartaric acid. Malic acid, which would normally make up a big percentage of the total acidity, was low. In fact, the wines changed very little during malolactic fermentation, as there was little malic acid to transform into lactic acid.

So, again, we have a vintage that is characterized by high acidity and concentrated fruit. Some are saying that there has never before been a vintage where ripeness and acidity combined to give such brilliant wines with great aging potential. And this is true for both red and white. Freshness, balance, moderate alcohol.

The whites are rich and ripe, but with a crystalline, almost razor-sharp edge. That little touch of lactic acid makes them complex without adding weight.

The reds might bear a resemblance to past vintages.  2005, maybe. But they made wine differently in 2005. Back then, extraction was the goal: get as much out of the ripeness as you could. Today, Pinot is not so much ‘extracted’ as ‘infused’, like tea. This gives wines that are fresher and more energetic, with no less intensity and maybe more spice.

Drink them now, both red and white. There is astounding vitality in the youthful 2020s. But stick to the regional appellations for now because this is above all a vintage for aging, again both red and white. Keep the premier and grand crus for 10-15 years; longer for the best wines. They have the balance to age, and will reveal little by little the complexity that we just get hints of today. These are wines that may shut down for a few years in a few years, that’s to be expected. But be patient; you will be overjoyed to pull 2020 Burgundy from your cellar down the line.

But even just that little touch of lactic acid made the complexity of the whites.

Appellation

NUITS-SAINT GEORGES

COTE DE NUITS

Nuits-Saint-Georges gives its name to the Cotes de Nuits, the northernmost part of the Cote d'Or and a rival to Beaune as a center of the business of wine in Burgundy. It is a lively wine sitting on either side of the base of the beautiful Vallerots combe and the Meuzin river. Its patron saint, Georges, gives his name to the most famous vineyard of the appellation, which in turn became part of the hyphenated town name in the 19th century. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, Burgundy's most famous wine-brotherhood, was founded here in 1934.

Produced in the communes of Nuits-Saint-Georges and Premeaux-Prissey, appellation Nuits-Saint Georges includes 41 premiers crus.

Wines

The appellation Nuits-Saint Georges is really two distinct zones, divided by the town itself on either side of the Meuzin valley. The northern part extends as far as the border of Vosne-Romanée, and the southern section lies partly in Nuits-Saint-Georges and partly in the commune of Premeaux. The wines from the vineyards of Premeaux are considered to be lighter than the rest in the southern section. The richest and most highly prized of the vineyards to the south of town are the premiers crus that come up to the village (including 'Les Saint Georges' itself) To the north, the premiers crus lie in a band that stretches to the borders with Vosne-Romanee, and show a lot of the finesse associated with the wines of Vosne. Color should be brilliant crimson with a bouquet of roses and liquorice. You get that Cotes de Nuits black cherry in youth with strawberry and blackcurrant in the mix, and the usual Pinot Noir secondary aromas with age. The southern wines are more muscular and full-bodied, while the wines on the Vosne side show more restraint and elegance. There are some rare whites which reputedly are dense, floral, biscuity and honeyed.

Terroirs

The soils in the northern sector derive from pebbly alluvium washed down from the slopes above, or, in the low-lying parts, silty deposits from the river Meuzin. In the southern sector the alluvia at the base of the slope originate in the combe of Vallerots where there are deep marly-limestone soils, while at the top of the slope, the rock is almost at the surface. Exposures are mostly to the east or south-east.

Color

Almost all red wines - Pinot Noir

White wines - Chardonnay

Production surface area

1 hectare (ha) = 2.4 acres

Reds : 299.03 ha (including 141.62 ha Premier Cru)

Whites : 7.30 ha (including 4.30 ha Premier Cru)

Food

Powerful and structures, this is the wine that gives the Côte de Nuits its reputation as full-bodied and sturdy. It goes with any full flavored meat. Game, especially, is often mentioned with mature wines from Nuits. Locals will serve it with river fish in red wine sauces. Soft-centered cheeses in the style of Époisses, Langres or Soumaintrain are the classic combo.

Appellations

On the label, the appellations 'Nuits-Saint Georges' and 'Nuits-Saint Georges 1er Cru' may be followed by the name of a specific vineyard, known as a climat.

The following climats are classified as premier cru:

Aux Argillas

Aux Boudots

Aux Bousselots

Aux Chaignots

Aux Champs Perdrix

Aux Cras

Aux Murgers

Aux Perdrix

Aux Thorey

Aux Vignerondes

Chaines Carteaux

Château Gris

Clos Arlot

Clos de la Maréchale

Clos des Argillières

Clos des Corvées

Clos des Corvées Pagets

Clos des Forêts Saint-Georges

Clos des Grandes Vignes

Clos des Porrets-Saint-Georges

Clos Saint-Marc

En la Perrière Noblot

La Richemone

Les Argillières

Les Cailles

Les Chaboeufs

Les Crots

Les Damodes

Les Didiers

Les Hauts Pruliers

Les Perrières

Les Porrets-Saint-Georges

Les Poulettes

Les Procès

Les Pruliers

Les Saints-Georges

Les Terres Blanches

Les Vallerots

Les Vaucrains

Roncière

Rue de Chaux

The following climats are village wines from a single vineyard, known as a lieu-dit.

Au Bas de Combe

Au Chouillet

Aux Allots

Aux Athées

Aux Barrières

Aux Croix Rouges

Aux Herbues

Aux Lavières

Aux Pertuis Maréchaux

Aux Saints-Jacques

Aux Saints-Juliens

Aux Tuyaux

Belle Croix

En la Perrière Noblot

La Charmotte

La Petite Charmotte

Le Coteau des Bois

Les Argillats

Les Brûlées

Les Chaliots

Les Charbonnières

Les Charmois

Les Damodes

Les Fleurières

Les Hauts Poirets

Les Hauts Pruliers

Les Longecourts

Les Maladières

Les Plateaux

Les Poisets

Les Topon

s

Les Vallerots

Plantes au Baron

Tribourg

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$99.00
 
SKU: EMAR02R-20
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