From: Burgundy, France
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Critical Acclaim and Taste:
93-95 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"The 2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains is powerful and muscular, opening in the glass with aromas of cassis, ripe wild blueberries, dark chocolate, rose petals, rich soil tones and smoked meats. Full-bodied, rich and muscular, it's deep and concentrated, with a serious chassis of ripe, powdery tannins, lively acids and a long, resonant finish. As usual, this is the most powerful wine in the Chevillon cellar. (WK)" (2/2020)
92-94 points Vinous
"The 2018 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Vaucrains 1er Cru matches Chevillon’s Les Saint-Georges pound for pound in terms of intensity and precision, offering brambly black fruit, crushed rock, tangerine and raspberry preserve scents that blossom with aeration. The medium-bodied palate features very supple tannins and pitch-perfect acidity, although perhaps at the moment the Les Saint-Georges demonstrates more complexity and terroir expression toward the finish. The Vaucrains is more introspective and remains a little aloof on the finish (at least for now). One for the cellar. (NM)" (1/2020)
93 points John Gilman
"The vineyard of Vaucrains produces powerful wines in virtually every vintage- at least when the wine is young- and this is amplified in the vintage of 2018. This will be a fine bottle in due course, but patience will be very much required, as this will need a good twenty years to start to stir. The bouquet offers up superb purity and nascent complexity, wafting from the glass in a mix of red and black cherries, bonfire, gamebird, a touch of nutskin, a very good base of soil tones, bitter chocolate and a touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, powerful and broad-shouldered, with a rock solid core, excellent soil signature and a very powerful, massively tannic and very, very long finish. I have never tasted a young vintage of Vaucrains that was this tannic, but the tannins are buried into the body of the wine and I really feel there is enough depth of fruit here to age alongside of the tannins and eventually produce a fine bottle. 93+ " (12/2019)
89-92 points Allen Meadows - Burghound
"This is at once very fresh and very ripe with its liqueur-like aromas of plum, dark currant and plenty of gamy nuances. This a huge wine with incredible density and power where the abundant dry extract coats the palate and, like the Les St. Georges, partially buffers the extremely firm tannic spine shaping the quite chewy, short and mildly warm bitter pit fruit-inflected finale. I very much like the impressive complexity but the balance, particularly on the finish, isn't at its usual level. This may well age out successfully but make no mistake, it will require the better part of 20 years before we will know for sure. " (1/2020)
About, via KLWM. The stunning collection of premier cru and old-vine vineyards held by the two Chevillon brothers would make any Pinot Noir grower jealous. Their innate ability to carefully tend the vines and master the difficult Burgundian conditions provides ripe, healthy clusters of grapes year after year. Taste through the barrels of Chevillon post-harvest and it doesn't matter what happened the year before, almost as if by miracle, the wines show class and character, and each terroir has its distinct idiosyncrasies. It is le vrai Pinot chez Chevillon.
Brothers Bertrand and Denis Chevillon are the fifth-generation managers of this property in Nuits-Saint-Georges, which means they work the vines and make the wines. Their father Robert, for whom the domaine is named, is still active as well. Both brothers bring passion, experience, a tireless work ethic, and intensity to their work at the domaine. Tasting through their palate of Nuits- Saint-Georges is a venerable tour of the appellation. Their Passetoutgrain, a blend of Pinot and Gamay, is a worthy introduction and their rare (two barrels made) Nuits-Saint-Georges Blanc made from the “Pinot Gouges” is an exotic treasure that ages just as long as the domaine’s fabled reds. And their Bourgogne Aligoté, Bourgogne Chardonnay and Bourgogne Rouge are grown and vinified with the same care as their premier crus. It shows.
The track record of the Chevillon wines in the cellar is one of the most remarkable aspects of this storied domaine. We regularly have the good fortune to taste back through the past three decades of vintages of all the various premier crus and the wines always more than convincing—they are amongst Burgundy’s very best. In fact, I have often been more disappointed with grand cru bottlings than I am with the top-tier Chevillon premier crus. Indeed, Nuits-Saint-Georges does not officially have any grand cru vineyards, but we are convinced that Cailles, Vaucrains and Les Saint-Georges are firmly grand cru quality. This decision is currently in the hands of the appellation authorities but it is almost better if the status quo doesn’t change–that way we are assured to get grand cru quality at a premier cru price!
“Les Vaucrains,” the name of the Premier Cru vineyard where this wine comes from, is an expression that translates (in Burgundian patois) to “infertile land.” It has east by northeast sun exposure and is located at 260-280 meters in altitude with clay and limestone soils.
