The 2019 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras is rich and brooding, unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berry fruits, warm spices, baking chocolate, espresso roast and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's elegantly muscular, with melting tannins and a lusty, oak-inflected finish.

Offering up a brooding bouquet of blackberries, cassis, forest floor, licorice, dark chocolate and smoked meats, the 2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras is full-bodied, ample and muscular, with a rich chassis of structuring tannins and a powerful profile, though it's succulent and nicely defined, too.

Aromas of cassis, wild berries and rich soil mingle with savory nuances of grilled game bird, dark chocolate spices and smoky new oak in a complex bouquet, introducing the 2017 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras, a medium to full-bodied wine with good depth and concentration at the core, structured around a firm chassis of chewy tannin that will likely resolve considerably by the time is bottled. The raw materials are present and the balance is excellent, but the wine's structure was hard to read when I tasted it.

Having just finished its malolactic a couple of months prior to my visit, the 2016 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras fought through a slight reduction to suggest a bouquet packed with red and black fruit, crushed violets and rose petals. With aeration, more blue fruit emerges. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, rounded tannin, perfect acidity, extremely well focused with a sensual and sophisticated finish that lingers in the mouth. This is a superb Aux Cras that is going to give a lot of pleasure.

The 2015 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras was demonstrating a lot of reduction on the nose, making it difficult to read. The palate is more representative with good density and a solid structure. It represents quite a masculine Nuit Saint-Georges with more black fruit than red, exerting a gentle grip in the mouth and blessed with a compelling saline finish. This is superb.