The 2011 Nuits-St-Georges Village has a foursquare bouquet with straightforward scents of blackberry, allspice and cedar. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, dry tannins on the entry and thereafter the oak seems to dominate the fruit profile at the expense of personality or finesse. Drink now-2015. Domaine Lecheneaut own a scattering of parcels across the Cotes de Nuits since Fernand Lecheneaut acquired the holdings back in the 1960s. Since 1985, after their father fell ill, brothers Vincent and Philippe Lecheneaut have run the winery in Nuits-St.-Georges. They farm around 10-hectares of vine, a majority Pinot Noir, including prized vines in Clos de la Roche. The tenets here are for most bunches to be stemmed, depending on the quality of fruit, and aging in Francois Freres oak (up to half new), even for the village crus. As I am accustomed to doing, I appraised the wines before researching their elevage, and time and time again I noted a propensity for the wood to dominate these wines and denude them of personality and individuality. That was frustrating because when I did encounter a cuvee where the wood was singing from the same hymn sheet as the fruit, i.e., the Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru, it stuck out like a sore thumb and exuded appealing fruit character, fine balance and a comparatively character-filled finish. Repeating my sentiment toward Maison Ambroise, if that new oak can be dialed down a little, then I am certain that Lecheneaut’s wines would sing more brightly. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083

The 2010 Nuits St. Georges comes across as a bit compact next to the other village wines, but it is still quite attractive. Dark cherries, plums, spices and licorice wrap around the virile finish. Today the Nuits is defined by its sheer power and length. Most of the fruit is sourced from vineyards on the northern side of the village. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. This is a beautiful set of wines from Lecheneaut. The wines show marvelous detail and nuance in a highly attractive style that captures the best the vintage had to give. Unfortunately the 2010 Clos de la Roche was too reduced to evaluate. Vincent Lecheneaut began picking on September 24. The wines saw 5-6 days of old oak, followed by a cuvaison of 15-21 days. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, New York City; tel. (212) 239-1275

Still in barrel when I last tasted it, the Lecheneaut 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges displays a more seamless ripeness than its village-level siblings. Ripe cherry, mocha, resin, new leather, and peat collaborate in the nose and on an expansive and sappy palate displaying bitter-sweetness but not the bifurcation found in some wines of this collection. Even here, though, the synergy of grape tannins and oak results in a touch of awkward finishing astringency. Perhaps this will benefit from its racking and assemblage, and I take 5-7 years of freshness in bottle to represent a reasonable expectation. Vincent and Philippe Lecheneaut's 2008s had with three exceptions been assembled when I tasted them late last winter, but their malos had been extremely protracted and bottling was due to be later than usual. The brothers employed their usual contingent of new wood but backed-off somewhat on the inclusion of stems (employed at low level even in the village wines) and on pigeage, professing overall satisfaction with a vintage in which they testified to considerable nail-biting in the race between ripeness and rot, but whose fruit required, they said, less sorting than had that of 2007. I found the results here from 2008 on the whole formidably-concentrated but awkwardly marked by their wood and disappointingly lacking in charm or primary juiciness. The several 2007s I was able to taste point in the direction of more harmony and fun-in-drinking, and the Lecheneauts indicated that on the whole they find their 2007s more sweetly-fruited than their 2006s, which they suggest represents a role-reversal from those collections tasted in barrel. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083

Still in barrel when I last tasted it, the Lecheneaut 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges displays a more seamless ripeness than its village-level siblings. Ripe cherry, mocha, resin, new leather, and peat collaborate in the nose and on an expansive and sappy palate displaying bitter-sweetness but not the bifurcation found in some wines of this collection. Even here, though, the synergy of grape tannins and oak results in a touch of awkward finishing astringency. Perhaps this will benefit from its racking and assemblage, and I take 5-7 years of freshness in bottle to represent a reasonable expectation. Vincent and Philippe Lecheneaut's 2008s had with three exceptions been assembled when I tasted them late last winter, but their malos had been extremely protracted and bottling was due to be later than usual. The brothers employed their usual contingent of new wood but backed-off somewhat on the inclusion of stems (employed at low level even in the village wines) and on pigeage, professing overall satisfaction with a vintage in which they testified to considerable nail-biting in the race between ripeness and rot, but whose fruit required, they said, less sorting than had that of 2007. I found the results here from 2008 on the whole formidably-concentrated but awkwardly marked by their wood and disappointingly lacking in charm or primary juiciness. The several 2007s I was able to taste point in the direction of more harmony and fun-in-drinking, and the Lecheneauts indicated that on the whole they find their 2007s more sweetly-fruited than their 2006s, which they suggest represents a role-reversal from those collections tasted in barrel.Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083