The 2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains is another unusually suave offering from Gouges, offering up aromas of dark berry fruit, wild plums, baking chocolate and rich soil tones, subtly framed by cedary new wood. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and dense, but notably open-knit and juicy at the core, concluding with a long, sapid finish. Given how forbidding Vaucrains can be, this is an almost disconcertingly charming effort.

The 2016 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru les Vaucrains was cropped at a paltry 11 hectoliters per hectare due to the frost. I have to admit that the aromatics lacked the natural harmony and cohesion of the Les Pruliers and the Porrets, the fruit perhaps a little subdued by some reduction. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, quite fleshy with more red fruit than black. The backbone feels less strong here and as such I suspect this will be more approachable than its siblings.

The 2015 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru les Vaucrains reveals excellent potential, wafting from the glass with a reticent bouquet of creamy red and black fruit, dark chocolate and squab. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and deep at the core, its imposing chassis of fine-grained tannin already beginning at clamp down on the finish, its acids positively racy. For all the Gouges' efforts to tame their wines' tannins, this is a classic Vaucrains that will demand a good decade of cellaring: patience, however, will bear dividends.

The 2014 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru les Vaucrains, cropped at 26 hectoliters per hectare, was just a little loose-knit on the nose when I tasted it at the domaine, perhaps missing the cohesion of the Pruliers. The palate pulls things together with slightly savory red berry fruit, fine tannin and well judged acidity. There is a chalky note coming through on the finish and a spiciness that comes through on the aftertaste. Again, classic in style, at the moment the palate is leading the way and waiting for the nose to catch up.

Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains has an introverted, slightly earthy bouquet with a light marine influence upon the dark fruit. With aeration it comes out of its shell, brightens up and reveals more red fruit character. The palate is clean and fresh with fine tannin, well judged acidity, supple in the mouth with plenty of raspberry, red cherry and cedar notes towards the composed silky finish. This is an excellent Nuits Saint Georges that will repay 3-4 more years in the cellar. Tasted September 2016.