Election Night

There was a great deal of enthusiasm surrounding this year's presidential election (at least amongst my associates) so I decided to open a bottle of wine that had me excited. Chevillon-Chezeaux is a small producer based in Nuits-Saint-Georges and they are known in France for their rare cuvee made from mutated pinot noir grapes. The Henri Gouges domaine was the first to have reported that some of their pinot noir vines had transformed and begun producing white grapes. The Gouges estate shared the cuttings from these vines with other domaines and they are now referred to as "Pinot Gouges" (a.k.a. "Pinot Blanc issue de Noir"). The Chevillon-Chezeaux, Nuits-Saints-Georges, 1er Cru, Bousselots, blanc, 2006 was ripe on the nose and thick on the palate. Unlike Burgundies made from the chardonnay grape, this bottle showed red fruits on the palate. Despite the unique flavor profile, this wine came across as being very much a Burgundy. The wine was chalky, coarse and full of minerals. Most Meursaults, Pulignys and Chassagnes in the same price range are finer wines, but this cuvee is very unique. I have had better bottles recently from other villages in Burgundy, but none were as exciting.