Domaine de Montille Nuits-St-Georges Aux Saint-Juliens Premier Cru 2019

With a solid 90-92 point score on the barrel sample by the famously parsimonious Jasper Morris, this old vine Red Burgundy has been on our radar to check in on for months. We now have, and it’s fantastic! Nuits-Saint-Georges for under $65 is a find, and we have this for the best price in the entire USA by a country mile!

Domaine de Montille is a historic Burgundy estate that goes back to the 1800s, yet really came to prominence in the 1960s, when Hubert de Montille and his children worked tirelessly to modernize their domaine and increase the quality of their wines. They succeeded unquestionably, and Domaine de Montille became a renowned Burgundy house with 20 hectares of vines, covering 20 separate appellations throughout Burgundy.

Located on the bottom edge of Côte d’Or’s northern half, Nuits-Saint-Georges is one of the largest villages in the Côte d’Or – and home to much of Burgundy’s sprawling negociant business. Perhaps more famously, Nuits-Saint-Georges borders the revered Vosne-Romanée holdings, sharing many characteristics with that region’s soils.

This cuvee hails from some 60-year-old vines, on the bottom of a slope just beneath their Premier Cru site of Les Thorey, and not far from Vosne-Romanée. These vines have been farmed organically since 1995 and underwent a shift to biodynamic farming practices beginning in 2005. The site is revered for the floral and perfumed wines it produces, ones that are known to show quite well at a young age, such as this!

The aromas lead with rose petals and peonies, followed by ripe, crushed plums, and a heady note of star anise and rosemary spices. The wine has a deep core of raspberry, with more accents of plums, and orange peel, and a lingering element of earthy minerality. The wine is solid throughout, but the aromas are simply spectacular! This is a wine to savor slowly and allow it to steadily enter the senses. Seductive stuff, and one of the more elegant Red Burgundies out there under $65. Only 9 cases available!

PAIRING IDEAS: With the delicate perfume of this wine, I feel some King Salmon is in order. I keep the skin on for that great texture and oiliness, but make sure it is really dry first. Season with salt and sear the skin side, pressing down gently until all the air bubbles hiss out and you get full contact with the skin on the pan. Then wait until the salmon can shake free of the pan, don’t try and turn before. Gently flip and turn off the heat, letting the salmon slowly cook to medium rare. Serve with seasonal vegetables and a healthy squeeze of lemon!