Gouges | Domaine Henri

Domaine Henri Gouges is, in many minds, the top grower of Nuits Saint-Georges. The Gouges family has been the proprietors of the vineyard in Nuits for generations and proprietor of the current domaine since 1919. Henri Gouges, along with the Marquis d' Angerville from Volnay, was at the forefront of battles against fraud in Burgundy in the 1920's. In the 1930's Monsieur Gouges was one of the people charged with the job of delineating the crus in Burgundy for the Institut Nationale d' Appellation d'Origine, and he was a member of that regulatory body at its outset. Today, Henri Gouges' two sons and two of his grandsons carry on the traditions of the estate, which has been estate-bottling for fifty years, with reserve and modesty.

The harvest is entirely de-stemmed and vinification takes place in lined cement vats for approximately fifteen days, the exact length depending upon on the vintage. After cuvaison the wine is transferred to small Limousin or Allier oak barrels, of which approximately one-quarter are renewed each year. The wines are fined with egg whites and given a light filtration before bottling. Since 1930, 80-90% of the crop has been estate-bottled. Gouges wines are extremely well represented in the fine restaurants of France and are also shipped to Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, England, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and Australia, as well as the United States.

The average quantity of cases produced per year at the Domaine Gouges over the last six years was 3135 (an average of 29 hectoliters per hectare). It is no wonder that these wines may be difficult to find.

Available Wines