Shocking Overachiever: 2013 Gouges Nuits-St-Georges

Posted by Ian McFadden

Shocking Overachiever
2013 Gouges Nuits-St-Georges

After my visit to Gouges this winter, I immediately set out to buy all I could find.

Gouges is one of the historic names in Burgundy. For years, this was the name for Nuits St. Georges. If you've tasted Gouges from the 70s or 80s, you get why these bottles are legendary.

Gouges' 2013 lineup is the best I've tasted in many years from them. I was blown away by them. I walked away from my tasting thinking: these are just killer.

Gregory Gouges

The extraordinary thing about Gouges' 2013 is how fresh, how clear and how lifted they are. Few wines that I tasted summed up the positive attributes of the vintage so well. Across the range, Gouges' wines are bright, pristine, silky and profoundly mineral. Above all, there is this tension combined with a blatantly pleasurable element.

I wanted to start by focusing on Gouges' village bottling for a number of reasons. First, the value is pretty ridiculous. It hugely overachieves for its level. It also sums up the magic of Gouges in 2013 really well. Burghound puts it nicely: "This is really quite good for what it is and worth your attention."

Gouges, and Nuits in general, has a reputation for being a little stern in its youth and blossoming in the cellar. While I have no doubt this wine will benefit from midterm aging, its glory is already obvious.

I'm more or less sneaking this offer in on what's always a quiet week. Yields at Gouges were very small in 2013 and we don't have all that much wine to offer. With that said, you shouldn't miss this. It's a great bottle at a really fair price.

To order, reply to this email or call the store at (212) 980-9463.

Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits