Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg’s Clos Vougeot 1984-2015

BY STEPHEN TANZER | OCTOBER 10, 2019

The historically important Grand Cru of Clos Vougeot has acquired a reputation over the centuries for being one of Burgundy’s most “masculine” wines: that is, tannic and brooding in its youth, often displaying a cool, reserved menthol-and-herb quality in the early going, and routinely needing a decade or more of cellaring to become more civilized. Ironically, one of the finest examples of Clos Vougeot comes from an estate that is as female-dominated as any in Burgundy.

Since the death of Georges Mugneret in late 1988, the family domaine has been run entirely by women: Georges’s wife Jacqueline and his daughters Marie-Christine and Marie-Andrée. In fact, the family has been so devoid of Y chromosomes that when Marie-Christine’s daughter Lucie gave birth to a baby boy shortly after the 2016 harvest, he was the first male member of the family to arrive since Georges was born in 1929. Perhaps fittingly, the Mugneret wines are perfumed, graceful, structured and profound but never hard—and this is especially the case in recent vintages.

A rare opportunity to explore an outstanding Burgundy Grand Cru through three decades of production arose last spring, when the two sisters generously organized a vertical tasting of their most celebrated wine to commemorate their 30th anniversary of taking over the family domain.

Georges Mugneret's Clos Vougeot vines close to the Château

The Early History of Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg

Although there have been Mugnerets in Vosne-Romanée for centuries, the Mugneret-Gibourg estate only dates back to 1933, when André Mugneret and Jeanne Gibourg, five years married, established Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, purchasing a large house and its old cellars and winery in the middle of the village on the Rue des Communes. At the outset they owned just over 4.5 hectares of vines, producing Bourgogne Rouge, Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges Bas de Combes and the Grand Cru Echézeaux. Their only son Georges Mugneret, who practiced medicine through most of his adult life, was then responsible for enlarging the family estate - and increasing its reputation - with purchases of parcels in Clos Vougeot (in 1953), Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Chaignots (1971), Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru (1977), Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Vignes Rondes (1982) and Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes (1985). All of these new plots officially became part of Domaine Georges Mugneret.

The two different labels were often a source of confusion for Burgundy aficionados as both labels emanated from the same cellar, but the two entities were merged under the Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg label in 2009, the same year that Georges’s wife Jacqueline retired. Today the Mugneret sisters, Marie-Christine Mugneret-Teillaud and Marie-Andrée Mugneret-Nauleau, control nine hectares, including a hectare of vines in Vosne-Romanée Le Pré de la Folie and Echézeaux Les Rouges du Bas that are sharecropped by their cousin Pascal Mugneret (Domaine Gérard Mugneret). Pascal’s grandfather Réné was the uncle of Georges Mugneret (i.e., the brother of André Mugneret). No one ever said that Burgundy family trees were simple.

Production of Burgundy was a constant financial challenge through the ‘60s and ‘70s, so in 1964 Georges became an ophthalmic surgeon, a practice he continued until several years before his death in 1988. Winemaking was actually his avocation (he farmed his vines on weekends) but it was one he took to heart, and his income as a surgeon allowed him to be especially discriminating with his vineyard purchases. By all accounts, Mugneret was his own toughest wine critic.