Nuits St Georges 1er cru Clos des Forêts St Georges 2003, Domaine de l'Arlot

Bit of a premier cru round-up coming up, but I thought I'd do them as separate entries to make life easier.

A while back G bought some Les Petits Plets from Domaine de l'Arlot which is made from the young vines of the same vineyard. I can't remember what vintage that was, but even though it was in half bottles and therefore you'd expect it to mature faster, I struggled with it and found it hard-going and basically not my cup of tea. So I wasn't expecting much from the this Clos des Forêts St George, which we bought from the Wine Society a few weeks ago, in fact I wasn't looking forward to it much at all. How wrong I was!

We decanted it and started drinking it right away. It had a nice plummy colour. On the nose I have written "Wow!" It was lovely, fruity, sweet and rich on the nose with lots of interesting spices - cinnamon, ginger, star anise, liquorice. G got wild strawberries with balsamic vinegar.

On the palate, it was congruent with the nose, big and intense, the kind of Nuits St Georges that I actually like. It had a kind of baked fruits flavour which is typical of 2003, an unusually hot year. While very much Cote de Nuits in style, it was not overpowering and not in the slightest bit difficult to drink. It was not a monster but had some finesse and a lovely sweetness to it. G thought it would last for another 5 years.

We had a look in Coates afterwards and saw that he describes it as medium-bodied. It simply wouldn't have occurred to me that a Nuits St Georges could be medium bodied but he is absolutely right.

This is a monopole, i.e. Domaine de l'Arlot own the whole vineyard, and on this occasion ACC's theory that monopoles tend to be particularly good was certainly borne out. It was a clear 10. I've got my dad a bottle as part of his birthday present, as this is the kind of wine that I think will appeal even to someone who doesn't drink much burgundy, so it will be interesting to see what he makes of it.