2022 Joannes Violot Guillemard Nuit Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes

Les Damodes is a Nuits Saint Georges premier cru on the northern edge of the appellation, upslope and next to the Vosne Romanee boundary, a position that gives its wines more perfume than the village's southern sites. It is an outlier in the range of Domaine Joannes Violot Guillemard, a Pommard family estate founded by Joannes Faivre (1880 to 1960) and farmed organically since 1999. Joannes, the founder's namesake, brings the same infusion approach he uses in the Cote de Beaune, whole clusters and light extraction that favor aromatics and silk over density. The closest reference points are Arnoux-Lachaux, whose whole cluster Vosne Romanee reds are among Burgundy's most coveted; Berthaut-Gerbet, Amelie Berthaut's estate in Fixin, whose reds age but open young; and Genot-Boulanger, the organic Meursault domaine making reds meant to be enjoyed early. Attractive now, with the structure to age another decade.