Hospice de Nuits Auction 2022

The 2022 auction at the Hospice de Nuits in Nuits-Saint-Georges is this Sunday, and today – Friday March 18 – I had the opportunity to taste the 2021 vintage, the wines that will be auctioned this weekend.

It was a quick tasting of all the wines, and it gave a first look at the Nuits-Saint-Georges wines as interpreted by Jean-Marc Moron, the Hospice de Nuits’ winemaker.

The charming, slightly fragile 2021s

The 2021 wines come after two great vintages – the concentrated and structured 2020s, and the hedonistic 2019s.

This is not easy, particularly when one considers that 2021 was a difficult vintage both weather- and viticulture-wise. The resulting wines are lighter and more transparent, and give an expression of more fragility, especially if (correctly, in my opinion) extracted with a light hand.

One could fear that some producers have over-extracted. But tasting the Hospice de Nuits wines, this was not an error made by the experienced Jean-Marc Moron. A few of the wines are on the powerful side for my palate, but I found none of them over-extracted.

Turning up the extraction would have been both tempting and understandable after the colour and intensity of the 2020s, but luckily Jean-Marc Moron made the ’21s with a very light hand – bravo.

My favourite ’21s at the Hospice de Nuits auction 2022

It is a bit early to definitively judge these wines, but I nevertheless have some pretty clear favourites.

A vin d’émotion, the Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Murgers 2021 has energy and vivacity, and a true hedonistic side. Re-tasting it after some of the bigger cuvees (Les Saint-Georges and Les Didiers) the energy in the Murgers overshadows the bigger terroirs. The effortlessness is magnificent. – (93p)

Not quite as vivacious, and with less tension and hedonistic effortlessness, is Les Corvets Pagets 2021. It still shows a lovely floral bouquet, and has a delightful, almost silky, feel. I adore this terroir, as always. – – (91-93p)

After this, I have a few other favorites – the red Les Terres Blanches 2021 shows lively acidity and energy, and while not a big hedonistic triumph, is still very enjoyable. – – (89-91p)

And I must also mention Les Didiers Cuvée Jacques Durets; sometimes a rather austere terroir, but here, made most airy and energetic. – – (90-92p)

How good are they

The wines mentioned above are definitely lovely, yet truthfully a notch down the quality scale from the generally very high levels of 2019 and 2020.

This being said, I must pay tribute to the team at Domaine de Hospice de Nuits: They have done well in 2021.