Two notes with this wine quite different in character but equal in quality and score. The first reads "another superb Nuits from Gouges this even better than the Chiagnots." A similar but more intense nose with cherry smoke and even a little charcoal. Very complex. The palate has good concentration with juicy ripe blackberry cherry and wild strawberry. A joyous wine - as all Burgundy should be. Recommended. A second note more muted on the nose with cherry and strawberry aromas a touch of leather developing in the glass. The palate is well balanced with good depth and cohesion. Savory meaty "rusty nail" finish. More like a Musigny than a Nuits but has lots of charm. Very different from the first sample. 1/06

It was interesting at one of our tastings, as about three quarters of the folks around the table really were impressed with the 2004 Clos des Porrets, and the two folks most sensitive to pyrazines could just not get back its fairly modest touch of the vintage’s character. For me, with a very modest sensitivity to pyrazines, the wine was really quite lovely and a very, very good 2004 in the making, as it offers up a fine nose of cassis, forest floor, gamebirds, a bit of bonfire, dark soil tones, chicory, espresso and just a touch of pepperiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is fullish, complex and nicely concentrated at the core, with modest tannins, good acids and lovely transparency and grip on the long and beautifully balanced finish. This is not quite as powerfully built as most recent vintages of Clos des Porrets, but that has simply produced a wine that is just about ready to drink at age eleven and which will offer plenty of pleasure (except to the most highly-sensitive palates) over the coming couple of decades. Give it another three or four years to fully blossom and then drink it over the ensuing twenty years or so. Good juice.