Domaine Henri Gouges

Historical

The eponymous Henri Gouges (born 1899) took on his father Henri-Joseph’s vines after the First World War. Henri built up the vineyard holdings, was instrumental in the development of the Appellation Controlee system, became mayor of Nuits-St-Georges and stayed in charge of the domaine until the end of his life in 1967.

Since then Henri’s sons Michel and Marcel, followed by cousins Pierre and Christian Gouges, and now the next generation Grégory and Antoine have taken charge.

Viticulture and Vinification

No prisoners are taken here – these are wines designed to age for the long term and if they happen to show awkwardly in their youth, tant pis. Two historical notes: the original Henri Gouges was mayor of Nuits-St-Georges when the various appellation classifications were being decided. He advocated that no vineyards be proposed for grand cru, even though – or perhaps because – he was a significant owner of the candidate most likely to succeed, Les St- Georges. It was also in his time that some of his Pinot vines mutated from red to white grapes and became the Pinot Gouges with which the domaine’s white Perrières is planted. Other vignerons have been supplied with cuttings too.

The wines made in the 1940s and 1950s were immensely dense, backward and long-lived, though a substantial replanting programme may have been responsible for a lightening in style in the 1970s and 1980s. Pierre and Christian Gouges continued the tradition of powerful, structured wines, though Grégory Gouges is prepared to experiment a little, and is possibly lightening up the style just a fraction, without losing the domaine’s core philosophy. Gregory is a believer in the traditional theory that wines should not be kept for more than 12 months after the malolactic fermentation.

He now offers a couple of cuvées outside the traditional style: The Nuits-St-Georges Clos de la Fontaine Jacquinot comes from the bottom of the village sector of Crots which always has miniature yields and a different style. To reinforce this, 50% whole bunches are retained, which shows that they can do it if they want to. Since 2017 they also bottle separately a couple of barrels of Nuits-St-Georges Clos des Porrets St Georges “HD”. HD can mean whatever you want, Haute Densité, Haute Definition, Hors d’Age. A few rows thought to be about 120 years old. 50-60% whole bunch with one new barrel out of two.

However the bulk of production remains in classic style. The grapes are vinified in cement tanks. There is no deliberate cool pre-maceration, though in some years the destemmed and lightly- crushed grapes may be slow to start fermenting. Not much new oak is used in the élevage, which takes place over 18 months, with one racking after malolactic fermentation.

Vineyards

Their Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains is partly from a replanting in the 1980s and partly from ancient vines. The fruit is perfumed and delicious from the start, against a backdrop of quite evident tannins. A wine better consumed in age rather than in its youth. The Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les St-Georges is an amazingly dense wine, with an extraordinary wealth of fruit to cover the tannins, which are every bit as present as they are in the Vaucrains but do not show. A wine for the very long term.

As well as the Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru La Perriere blanc made from the celebrated pinot Gouges, the other white wine of interest is a simple Bourgogne Pinot Blanc grown in the Dames Huguettes vineyard above the town.

Red Wines

White Wines