Top Nuits-St-Georges 2021 en primeur wines
A round-up of the best Nuits-St-Georges 2021 wines, with Charles Curtis MW finding many fine wines in an appellation that escaped some of the vintage's worst weather.
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Best Producers:
Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair
Domaine des Perdrix
Domaine Henri Gouges
Domaine de l’Arlot
Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles’ top-scoring Nuits-St-Georges 2021 wines
Nuits-St-Georges was generally less severely impacted than many neighbouring villages by the weather conditions in 2021.
Nuits is a village with a diverse variety of terroirs, from the premier crus north of the town bordering on Vosne, to the cooler sites in the combe or valley that comes down from the Hautes-Côtes, then to the climats south of Nuits that stretch into neighbouring Premeaux-Prissey.
According to Thibault Liger-Belair, however, his production was reduced by a fairly consistent 25%-30% across the village. He credited very late pruning with helping to minimise losses to frost.
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To combat rot, he decided to avoid tilling between the rows since the plants that grow provide a sort of mulch that stops the mildew spores from infecting the rest of the vine.
Liger-Belair also felt that the year’s conditions called for adapting the winemaking. Rather than punching down, he softly turned the cap without crushing the grapes, and he destemmed everything in 2021 to avoid green tannins in the stems.
Sylvie Poillot of Domaine de la Vougeraie agreed on the need to adapt winemaking in a year like 2021. She started picking reasonably early (17 September) in their premier cru monopole Clos de Thorey north of the town and noted that the wines would be bottled early.
Many growers have shortened the length of cask maturation because the lighter, fresher wines of 2021 can’t take too much wood. Louis Meunier at Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron is based in Premeaux-Prissey, but works with parcels across the village; he reported an average yield of a moderate 30 hl/ha but noted that their parcel of premier cru Boudot at the northern tip of Nuits was more affected by the conditions than elsewhere.
Domaine de l’Arlot is also located in Premeaux, where it counts two large monopoles among its holdings. The Clos des Forêts St. Georges is 7.2ha and winemaker Geraldine Godot typically separates it into six distinct cuvées but in 2021 there were only enough grapes for three. The adaptability of the vignerons in Nuits-St-Georges helped ensure the best possible results in a supremely challenging year.
See the score table listing Charles’ top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above
See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores
Quick links:
See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:
Morey-St-Denis | Chambolle-Musigny | Gevrey-Chambertin | Pommard and Volnay | Vosne-Romanée | Meursault| Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet
See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW’s top-scoring Nuits-St-Georges 2021 wines:
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This is an epic wine in the cellar of Thibault Liger-Belair, tannic, powerful and deep. The fruit character is dark plum and blackberry with hints...
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Domaine des Lambrays, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru La Richemone, Burgundy, France, 2021

This substantial 0.89-hectare parcel is among the jewels in the new purchase by Domaine des Lambrays. The vines were planted in 1924. The lieu-dit is...
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Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru Chaignots, Burgundy, France, 2021

<p>After drought limited production in 2019 and 2020, 1.27ha of old vines at the top of the slope in Chaignots were damaged by frost, losing...
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Edouard Delaunay, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru Argillas, Burgundy, France, 2021

This wine is a perfect example of a Nuits premier cru, with its medium-deep ruby colour and pronounced aromas of cassis and curranty fruit with...
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This delicious village-level Nuits features dark plummy fruit with earth, spice, and leather notes. The texture is supple and dense, and the finish is satisfyingly...
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Bouchard Père & Fils, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru Cailles, Burgundy, France, 2021

Bright cassis fruit aromas lead for this classic expression of Nuits-St-Georges, with classic notes of earth, mineral, smoke and leather. The structure is impressively dense...
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This lush, deeply-coloured wine is a fine example of the Chanterêves style, featuring pronounced aromas of ripe cherries with notes of violets and earth. The...
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This surprisingly powerful wine shows ripe black and red berry fruit with notes of mineral, spice, and earth. The ripeness comes through on the palate,...
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In 2021, Liger-Belair managed a single barrel of Aux Cras instead of the usual three to five. The concentration, however, is impeccable, with a deeper...
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This village-level lieu-dit deserves to be better known. It is located on the limit of Vosne just below Boudots and immediately south of Vosne Les...
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This wine has a light, fresh style with fruit aromas ranging from cranberry to pomegranate and red cherry; a hint of mint and menthol to...
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Domaine Henri Gouges, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru Vaucrains, Burgundy, France, 2021

The aromas from the premier cru Vaucrains are a bit less forward but quite elegant nonetheless, with a pronounced blackberry fruit and lovely floral and...
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Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat, Nuits-St-Georges, 1er Cru Murgers, Burgundy, France, 2021

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This delicious wine features bright blackberry and cassis fruit aromas with hints of violets and lavender on the initial attack, but there is also a...
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This vibrant, delicious wine has a bright raspberry fruit with mineral, spice, and rose petal notes. The wine is not heavy, but the firm tannins...
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Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, La Charmotte, Nuits-St-Georges, Burgundy, France, 2021

The village-level parcel of Nuits has produced a lush, sybaritic wine with blackberry fruit aromas and abundant floral notes. The grapes come from the cooler...
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Fleshy and rich, with a dense plummy fruit, the Boudots from Benjamin Leroux represents a very solid result for the vintage. There is enough density...
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A bit of reduction at first seems to hide the complexity of this wine, but with time there is a lovely blueberry and currant fruit,...
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The wine bottled as Clos de l’Arlot represents the best the vineyard has to offer. The young vines and the fruit from the clonal selection...
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