TN: 2001 Domaine Alain Michelot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles

WINE TALK
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  • 2001 Domaine Alain Michelot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (12/16/2011)
    This couldn’t be any more different from the last bottle we tried. Dark, clear ruby red. The nose is open for business right away. Cloves and red fruit with some earthy aromatics. The palate on the first night is immovable. As tight as it gets. Even with dinner, it is simply showing nothing, so sealed it up and will come back tomorrow.

Aromatically, this is firing on all cylinders. The additional day has really brought out the spicy/savory aromatics. At first, this was showing extremely tart, bright cherry, but as it has sat in the glass for a bit, the fruit is receding to a chalky wall of tannin and some darker, more brooding elements. Some stemmy notes are apparent on the finish, but it shows more of an earthy component than an ugly green one. I think this needs a bit more time. Will check back again.

Finished this with roast duck rubbed with five spice and some sesame stir fried noodles with sesame oil, chanterelles and peas. The food really brought out some wonderful textures and secondary notes in this like fennel and mushroom. The nose is really kicking right now as well with beef stock and darker more brooding aromatics. This has been a fun ride.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Great on your effort to give this wine a chance with the additional days and greasy food. It can really pay to give such wines a shot at being good, though it isn’t clear where it ended up for you in that regard.

Though I’ve heard his daughter arrived there and that the wines are better, I’ve always thought of Michelot as an overcropper and his wines almost always reflected that, especially in vintages where the ripeness wasn’t that of a “great” vintage. It sounds like this might be the case in the 2001 you had?

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Thanks for the comments and insight on the producer Stuart. In the end, I would say I loved the aromatics on this, but would say much like an Ornette Coleman record, it brought me more appreciation than sheer enjoyment. It really showed best with the duck.

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I haven’t followed Michelot for many years but the wines I have had starting with 2006 have been understated, underrated and all together impressive. I am excited to hear the wines back to 2001 are well worth searching out. Thanks for the notes.

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Where did you hear it? [wink.gif]