This reflects the elegance that can be found in Prémeaux and the Mugnier touch only adds to this with a nicely complex and aromatically expressive nose that offers detailed and pure aromas of earth, black fruit and plum that dissolve into beautifully complex, refined and balanced flavors that also display ample finishing minerality and better overall phenolic ripeness. A really lovely effort that should age effortlessly and while this presently has a touch of forest floor on the nose, I suspect that it will pass in time.

Good full red. Ripe aromas of blackberry and black cherry. Juicy and aromatic in the mouth, with more obvious ripeness and texture than the young-vines Clos des Fourches. The perfumed cherry flavor carries through to the floral finish, which features dusty tannins but avoids the dryness of the Clos des Fourches. As with the 2005 version, this strikes me as Nuits in a Chambolle style.

The 2004 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos de la Maréchale 1er Cru has quite an intense fungal, earthy bouquet, although there is sufficient decayed red fruit in the background. That said, this is one where aeration reveals some greenness. The palate is raw on the entry with rustic tannins, quite ferrous in style, and a slightly skeletal finish redeemed by its acidity. Yet it is not the greatest Clos de la Maréchale that Mugnier has ever made. Tasted at Sarah Marsh’s 2003/2004 tasting in London.

Pale rusty ruby. Pale rim. There’s a leafy top note on the aroma of this wine that I don’t expect from other vintages. It blew off with time to leave a rather confident, exuberantly fruity nose. Very charming palate with nothing in excess though still with some fine, lightly sandy tannin in evidence. A very solid performance with no disappointing aspect. Very fresh finish. WYSIWYG. (JR)