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Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé

Winemaker François Millet guided me through de Vogüé’s wines as usual. It is a small range, so you can forget that they represent the lion’s share of these prestigious vineyards, not least Musigny. Millet is a quietly spoken man, always with his allegorical perspective on the previous growing season. (As an aside, when he describes the growing season in terms of an imaginary land of pools and waterfalls, the cartoon “Adventure Time” always pops into my head.)

“The vintage is larger than 2016,” he explained as we settled ourselves in the capacious cellar. “We almost suffered frost on the same day as last year. But it was less cold and the village was more prepared, burning some straw to create cloud cover. May was very warm. We had a heat wave that made the flowering very early, predicating an early vintage. The summer was dry but correct with no rot or fungus. We picked on September 2, a little earlier than other growers, but I have no regrets about that. It is important to keep the freshness and avoid overripeness. I did no punching down because the colour came easily. I am almost embarrassed by the colour of the Bonnes-Mares. I was able to postpone the malolactic fermentation in the spring so that it finished in June and July, as the lees were very good. This is important to preserve freshness, especially for that kind of vintage. The other important point is the yield. We did a green harvest and this was one of the keys of the vintage. We had a lot of juice in the berries, a skin-to-berry ratio that was quite low, which gave volume to the vintage. Some did some saignée but I am not keen on that. I prefer to just control the yields. There is no chaptalisation and alcohol levels are around 13.0° natural.”

This was a fine set of 2017s from de Vogüé. I often find the Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru to be the dark horse of the lineup, and the growing season illuminated the difference between it and the Chambolle Village. Both the Chambolle Les Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares are classy and remind me of the 2014s, but a little fuller in style. I put them in level pegging at the moment, the Musigny asserting its superiority. Of course, for the last three vintages it has been joined by its white sibling, the Musigny Vieilles Vignes Blanc. Millet told me that he does not treat it like a normal Chardonnay, but exactly the same as the red Musigny. There is always something very aromatic and almost Rhône-like on the nose, with fine weight and density on the palate that distinguishes it from other Côte de Nuits whites.

From 2017 Burgundy: A Modern Classic (Jan 2019) by Neal Martin

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2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

Color: Red

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