2016 Domaine Vougeraie Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Damodes 1er Cru

“The velvety smoothness of good Burgundy wines, caused by the higher spirits, ensures that their taste touches the tongue softly and is gentle on the nerves”, wrote Dr Guy-Crescent Fagon in 1694. He added “A wine that the stomach can press and digest at leisure, without rushing to get rid of it”. This prescription was addressed to Louis XIV, weighed down by ill health. Nuits wine, recommended by his senior physician, soon cured the royal patient. Wine for convalescence, purely medicinal, had been invented!

 

 

HISTORY

 

Les Damodes’s origins, Celtic or Gallo-Roman, are lost in the midst of time. Does this name conjure up a trinity of female deities, similar to the Bonnes Mares? Protectresses of earthly fruit and maternity, these goddesses were worshipped in the region. To the east of Nuits, the Gallo-Roman settlement of Les Bolards covered 15 hectares, and had a very active Mithraic temple. Or perhaps the name evokes druidesses who lived in the coomb. From the Middle Ages, Nuits wine took on a separate identity distinguishing it from Beaune wine. Whereas the Côte de Beaune produced a light-coloured wine (œil-deperdrix), best drunk young or even primeur, the Côte de Nuits strove to produce a dark velvety-coloured wine, a wine to lay down, deliberately powerful and tannic. It ages well due to its solid qualities, which were highly appreciated in the 17th and 18th centuries at the Court of Versailles, as well as abroad. The German courts were particularly partial to Nuits wine. Nuits wine is renowned for ageing well, whereas Beaune wine is best drunk younger. At that time a Burgundy wine was synonymous with Nuits.

 

 

OUR PARCEL

 

Geographical situation: Nuits-Saint-Georges has a strong, unbridled personality. The town is perched below the hillside, at the opening of the La Serrée coomb. A small stream, the Meuzin, makes its way down from the Hautes-Côtes. Les Damodes is the town’s northernmost climat, on the border with Vosne-Romanée. Surface: 0,9223 ha Geographical situation: parcel on a steep slope. Exposure: East-facing. Plantings: 1985/1986 Grape variety: 100% Pinot Noir