Here too there is just enough wood present to remark upon with its spicy and almost Vosne-like nose though the background earth scents on the ripe plum and dark cherry scents remind one that this is still a Nuits. The round and seductive flavors flash notably more minerality on the sappy medium weight flavors that possess outstanding depth and sneaky good length on the slightly firmer and mildly austere finale. Good stuff.

The 2016 Vignes Rondes from Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg has really taken nicely to the inherent elegance of the vintage and this may well be the finest young vintage of this cuvée that I have ever tasted here. Normally, Vignes Rondes can be a tad rustic out of the blocks, but not so in 2016, where the wine offers up a beautiful bouquet of cherries, red plums, a touch of nutskin, gamebird, a dollop of Vosne-like spices, beautiful soil tones and a deft framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and soil-driven in personality, with a lovely core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and tangy finish. There was virtually no frost here in 2016. Really a suave and polished bottle of Nuits!

(90-92 points) (30% of the crop was lost to frost): Bright, dark red with ruby highlights. Aromas of very dark berries, violet and licorice; less fruity than the Bas de Combe but more minerally. A step up in density and concentration, conveying a captivating stony pungency to its flavors of crushed black cherry, blackberry and minerals. Lovely clarity and inner-mouth tension here, not to mention excellent sneaky length for village wine. These degenerating vines, which average 50 years of age, are producing less and less, noted Marie-Christine Mugneret. • By Stephen Tanzer on January 20 i8

A wild bouquet of grilled game, dark berries and rich soil introduce the 2016 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vignes Rondes, a medium to full-bodied, firm and tangy wine that was more generous in barrel than it is from bottle, where fine but assertive Nuits tannins make their presence felt on the finish. While it's quite shut down today, I suspect it will actually attain its true plenitude before the fleshier, richer Chaignots, but in any case, it will require a decade's patience.- WK