92 pts Vinous
Drinking Window 2024 - 2034
The 2021 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Chênes Carteaux 1er Cru, cropped at around 16hL/ha, is harmonious on the nose, well defined, focused and leaning slightly more to blacker fruit, touches of ash and loam emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, taut and fresh, quite saline with a cohesive white pepper-tinged finish. Very fine.
- By Neal Martin on November 2022

92 pts Jasper Morris *****
A darker mid purple, compared to Chaignots. More fruit than flowers on the nose, a balanced and elegant ripeness. Just a few tannins at the finish but they are well surrounded by the pleasing red fruit. Impeccable balance. These wines are refreshing after the monster 2020s. Drink from 2026-2033. Tasted Nov 2022.

“It was complicated due to the April frost, though we did not have too much damage,” Antoine Gouges tells me. “We lost 15-20% as we prune very late, the second [pruning] at the beginning of March. I think this had an impact. It was a cooler season than normal. We de-leafed to improve aeration as there was a big oïdium pressure at the end of the season on the leaves, which is uncommon. We started picking on 17 September with the whites and finished on 23 September, with the average yield around 25hl/ha - not so bad and better than in 2020. The grapes were good quality with just a bit of sorting. I think it’s a more classical vintage with nice concentration and energy. I knew the vintage was more delicate, so we were soft with the punch-downs and pumping over, working by infusion in order not to extract big tannins, focusing more on the finesse and the silkiness. We used a low amount of SO2, less than half what we once used. We decided to keep the freshness, so we bottled many of the wines in August.”