Wild bramble fruit, dried leaves, crushed stones, raw cocoa and walnut husk on the nose. It’s medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Lingering dark-chocolate and toasty notes with dark, earthy undertones. Very refined and poised. Subtle. Drink or hold.

A fresher ruby purple. Delicious dense but lively fruit, the floral side of raspberry. A superb wine in the style of the vintage though with bracing acidity at the back. Tense and crunchy, yet covered by lots of fruit. All well harnessed, will age extremely well. Drink from 2033.

The Clos des Porrets is further north and was out of the path of the hail in July, so the wine was not affected and it has turned out superbly in 2018. The bouquet is deep and already beautifully expressive, jumping from the glass in a mix of black cherries, cassis, bitter chocolate, a hint of cola, gamebird, a complex base of dark soil tones and a topnote of woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, powerful in personality, but just impeccably balanced at the same time, with a great core of fruit, firm, buried tannins, tangy acids and outstanding length and grip on the poised and very promising finish. Fine, fine juice in the making.

From a climat that was largely spared by the hail that impacted this commune, Gouges's 2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos des Porrets Saint Georges offers up a generous, youthfully fruit-driven bouquet of plums, raspberries and cassis mingled with subtle hints of cola and creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, pure and velvety, it's layered and fleshy, with powdery tannins and an ample core of fruit. This is a rather ripe, sumptuous, even rather heady example of the frequently rather stern Clos des Porrets Saint Georges, and in that respect, it's very typical of the vintage.