The 2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Corvées Pagets opens in the glass with a delicate bouquet of cherries, red plums, peonies, warm spices and raw cocoa. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and velvety, with a succulent core of fruit that entirely conceals the wine's powdery structuring tannins, concluding with a pure and mouthwatering finish.

The 2015 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Corvées Pagets, which had been bottled the previous week, conveyed a sense of airiness on the nose. Call it the "gaps between the fruit". The palate is crisp and linear with tart red cherry fruit, a touch of citrus peel and tangy Seville orange marmalade towards the finish that just cuts away a little swiftly. Once it recovers from bottling this will be a very decent premier cru, although I am just seeking a little more substance to develop.

The 2014 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru les Corvées Pagets was showing just a touch of reduction when I tasted it from barrel, though there seemed to be sufficient fruit concentration underneath. The palate is medium-bodied, the new oak a little more conspicuous here and coating the finish in a thin film of dark chocolate. That should be absorbed by the time of bottling, but I feel this is a slightly more modern style of Nuits Saint Georges (perhaps because it was completely destemmed?). I would like to see more terroir come through by the time of bottling.

Taken from barrel, the 2013 Nuits St Georges 1er Cru les Corvées Pagets includes 50% whole-cluster fruit this year. The aromatics had batonned down the hatches when I tasted it. However, there is plenty of sweet red cherry and raspberry fruit on the palate, smooth as a baby’s bottom in terms of texture, segueing into a very pure finish that demonstrates good weight. Very fine, even if it is just missing that je ne sais quoi.

The 2012 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Corvees Pagets comes from a single 0.33-hectare parcel planted in 1987 and 1988 and this year it includes around 40% whole bunch fruit. It has a rounded, soft black currant and strawberry-scented bouquet that carries the new oak well. The palate is very sweet on the entry with tart red berry fruit, crisp acidity and a touch of piquancy towards the “vitamin” finish. This is very lively and animated, and it just needs to develop a little more refinement by bottling. Domaine de la Vougeraie was founded in 1998 when the domaines of Claudine Deschamps, Pierre Ponnelle, Louis Voilland and L’Heritier-Guyot were merged. I remember it well because at the time I was exporting L’Heritier-Guyot’s wines to Japan (to be frank, they were quite ordinary back then.) The man behind the venture was Jean-Claude Boisset, whose own considerable holdings meant that Domaine de la Vougeraie became a significant player in the Cote d’Or, with 37 hectares of prime vineyard including seven grand crus to their name. I have to be honest and say that like many others, I liked the first few vintages of their wine, but found them a little predictable and seemed to struggle for charm and personality. Perhaps that was a reflection of former winemaker Pascal Marchand applying the practices he had learned at Comte Armand: a lot of new oak with 100% de-stemmed fruit – not really my bag. When he departed for pastures new, incoming winemaker Pierre Vincent seemed to apply a gentler touch. The new oak is still part of the wines’ character, but there is certainly a more considered approach, plus he is more open to using whole cluster fruit. Managing such an array of wines with a relatively small team cannot be easy in challenging vintages such as 2012, or for that matter 2013. Pierre told me that his average yields were 22 hectoliters per hectare, though for the grand crus, they were down to 17 hectoliters per hectare. Importer: Boisset Family Estates, St. Helena, CA; tel. (800) 878-1123