Burgundy Focus 3: Mugnier’s Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1er Cru 2007-1980
BY NEAL MARTIN |
British music historian Ian MacDonald perspicaciously remarked that The Beatles’ “middle period of peak creativity” begins with Harrison’s opening G eleventh suspended fourth chord that announces A Hard Day’s Night and ends with the thundering E chord simultaneously struck upon three grand pianos that culminate A Day In the Life. Between those inflection points, it is educational to listen to the Fabs’ albums in reverse order, that is to say, Sgt Pepper back to their debut, Please Please Me, a mind-bogglingly prolific period between June 1967 back to March 1963. It is like listening to Lennon and McCartney* unlearning their craftsmanship, peeling away their preternatural brilliance layer-by-layer from dazzling psychedelia and studio trickery back to the derivative rock ‘n roll precision-tooled during their Hamburg days.
*George Harrison found his muse after this period.
I thought of this during an educational tasting of Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier’s Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses painstakingly organized upstairs at Hide restaurant in London. Approaching the wines in reverse chronological order was essentially scraping away year-by-year of a winemaker’s expertise. It was like pressing rewind on a career. Highlights predictably congregated within the beginning of the tasting with respect to Mugnier’s younger vintages, whereas older vintages were much less consistent.
Frédéric
Mugnier photographed in March 2022 outside his home in Chambolle-Musigny.
This unique vertical of Frédéric Mugnier’s Musigny Grand Cru offered a chance to examine one of Burgundy’s most sought-after wines back to vintages that predate his arrival. In this instance, going back through time was not unlike witnessing someone unlearning their skill and experience.
