2013 Domaine Robert Chevillon, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Les Cailles

Good medium red. Refined aromas of boysenberry, black cherry, minerals and violet. Subtle, suave and fine-grained, with dark berry and pungent mineral flavors coming across as utterly seamless yet vigorous. Not a fat wine but wonderfully perfumed, gripping and long. Like a mini-2010 in style, and built for a slow and graceful evolution in bottle.

Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles has a slightly subdued bouquet, sultry dark cherries mixed with wild hedgerow and Earl Grey aromas, but refusing to really get going despite aeration. The palate is better with supple red fruit, but it feels hard and needs more fleshiness towards the leafy, tertiary finish. Not a bad wine, easy-going, and it improves in the glass gaining more harmony and complexity. Give this another 2-3 years in bottle. Tasted September 2016.

Mid crimson. Lightish mildly glacé strawberry nose. Very sweet and fruity. Deceptively charming already. Tastes as though a lot of work went into making this wine so approachable. Admirably persistent. It really does fan out on the finish, which is where it shows its class. (JR)