Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru "Les Damodes" 2012, Aurelien Verdet

A quick refresher on the 2012 vintage: a cold and damp spring resulted in late and slow flowering. The vines suffered from mildew and needed to be treated accordingly. The Cote de Beaune vineyards were severely affected by hailstorms which damaged the leaf canopy. To reduce the impact of the wet weather most vignerons pruned back the vine leaves. When temperatures spiked in the summer this resulted in grape skins getting burnt. In short, this was a very challenging vintage and resulted in low yields of 15-20 hl/ha. This is a vintage where the skill of the wine-maker is paramount as many crucial decisions had to be made to harvest healthy grapes and produce good quality wines. This Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru from the organically farmed Aurelien Verdet estate has an appealing dark cherry colour with a tinge of fox on the rim. A nose of plum, black cherry and aniseed with strong wafts of toasted oak barrels. On the palate there is ripe plum fruit, good breadth a chewy plum stone finish. Overall the texture is on the heavy side, there is a lack of freshness and not much complexity. Perhaps the small yield resulted in too much new oak being used? An enjoyable wine but not fully expressive of its 1er cru appellation due to a lack of complexity and finesse. To a large extent it is a victim of the vintage. Scores 72/100.