Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Argillas 2020

Premier Cru. Aux Argillas, Nuits-Saint-Georges. Pinot Noir from 0.39 ha, bought in 2010. The climat is tiny, 1.89 ha in 12 plots, so a fifth of it is Tardy’s. North of the town, just below Aux Thorey. Planted in 1969 and 1973. Guyot simple, rows north to south, clay-limestone with a skin of pebbles and clay over limestone bedrock, about 34 hl/ha. Cooled by the air that comes down the Gorge de la Serrée, the combe that opens just north of the town. The latest-picked parcel of the domaine every year. Eighteen months in barrel, half new.

Same north-of-town Nuits as Bas de Combe, but higher and a premier cru. The northern premiers crus of Nuits, Boudots, Cras, Murgers, Thorey, Argillas, Richemone, sit on the slope between the town and the Vosne line. Argillas is a small climat near the top of that run, under Aux Thorey, on the north side of the Serrée combe. The combe matters twice: it’s the source of the cold night air that slows ripening here, which is why this is the last parcel picked and why the wine keeps its freshness in warm years; and the name itself, argile is clay, says what the soil is. Guillaume punches down more here than anywhere else, “but this remains an elegant fresh wine.” The only Tardy wine with half new oak and the full eighteen months, and the one every taster says to wait for.

Fully de-stemmed with two thirds of the berries kept whole, a week cold before fermentation starts on its own, warmed slowly with more punch-downs than the other crus. Aged eighteen months in barrel on the fine lees under CO₂, sulfur added late, racked once before bottling.