2018 Charmes-Chambertin Les Mazoyères Grand Cru

“The 2023 vintage was great,” Sylvie Poillot says, beaming. “Of course, we did a green harvest in June, continuing into July for some parcels, as there were too many grapes. I noticed nine bunches per vine in Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice, also Savigny-lès-Beaune, so we cut it to four per vine. August was cool. We started picking on August 30 and finished September 28, starting with the whites and finishing with the Evocelles in Gevrey. It was a long harvest, as we wanted to wait for ripening, stopping for two days when there was rain on September 19 and 20. The yield is 53 hl/ha for the whites and 43 hl/ha for the reds. There was no chaptalization. The highest alcohol was in Charmes-Chambertin at 13.5%, but around 12.5% average for the reds.”

“We are now doing a shorter élevage. We use five different coopers: Damy and Chassin for the whites, with the reds in Rousseau, Mercurey and François Frères. We receive the wood in June with medium toasting, a mixture of 228, 350 and 450-liter barrels. No more than 20% new oak is used across the range. Bottling was in December instead of April (since 2021). Also, we are now bottling using Trescases instead of Amorim. There will be new cuvées in 2024: 0.40-hectares in Mazoyères-Chambertin, land farmed by Arnaud Mortet that has now been acquired.”

“We started the harvest on August 26 and finished September 13 at 38hL/ha,” Sylvie Poillot said with that permanent smile on her face. “All the whites and reds are matured in 20% new oak in 450-liter barrels for the former, using our own wood from the Citeaux forest. I think the two villages that excelled in 2022 are Vougeot and Chambolle-Musigny. The wines will be bottled early next year, and all the prices will be kept the same as the 2021s.”

It’s always a pleasure to see Sylvie Poillot at Domaine de la Vougeraie. “We had a lot of frost in many areas and also the hailstorm three weeks after the frost, in Evocelles and then in La Justice,” she explains. “The summer was quite cool. Because of the frost, we had to wait to pick the harvest at the right time. We started the harvest on 17 September and finished in the Hautes Côtes on 1 October. There were days when there was no harvest, or we picked at two in the afternoon because we had to manage various levels of ripeness. We used less whole bunches, all the reds de-stemmed except for Charmes-Chambertin, Bonnes-Mares and Musigny. We blended some lieux-dits, such as Volnay and Pommard, to make up the volume. In Vosne-Romanée, we had just 14 twenty-kilo cases, hardly any, and this was blended into the Bourgogne Rouge because you cannot vinify that small volume. We also reduced the level of new oak with a maximum of 20% except for the Musigny, which is only two barrels. For the whites, we used 450-liter barrels instead of the 228-liter barrels, using less new oak that comes from the Citeaux forest.”

Sylvie Poillot welcomed me as usual at Domaine de la Vougeraie, up in the village of Prémeaux-Prissey. “We started picking on August 19 with the Pommard Les Petits Noizons, then the Corton Clos-de-Roi, then the Beaune Premier Crus," she explained, pouring the wines. “The whites were picked three days later. We finished the harvest on September 5 in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. The average yield is 31.31hl/ha, some cuvées less than 2019 and some more. This year we have new vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet that used to belong to Duc de Magenta, so we are converting them to organic and biodynamic. They will enter the portfolio in 2021, making around 52 hectares of vineyard. The maximum alcohol was in Charmes-Chambertin Les Mazoyères, at 13.0°, with a pH around 3.30. Nothing is bottled apart from the Terres de Famille. The fermentation was normal, with some racking for the Village Crus." Poillot was very enthusiastic about their set of 2020s, which includes some thrilling wines. The whites are crowned by a wonderful Bienvenue-Bâtard-Montrachet that had the temerity to put the Chevalier in its place. There are also some hidden gems, like the 2020 Beaune Montagne St. Désirée. No, I'm not familiar with this climat either, but this bottling from a parcel previously owned by Alex Gambal was a delight. There were a handful of wines that could have used more tension on the finish, including the aforementioned Chevalier-Montrachet, while the whole-bunch addition to the Musigny was yet to decide to what degree it will be assimilated, still masking some of the DNA of its terroir more than others at present. These wines are bottled under natural cork, which Poillot told me are individually tested by the manufacturer.

Since debuting in 1999, Domaine de la Vougeraie has accreted one of the impressive array of vineyard holdings in Burgundy, a raft of Premier and Grand Crus spanning 39 appellations that would leave many a winemaker envious. As usual, Sylvie Poillot guided me through the 2019s. “The flowering was great,” Poillot told me. “There was no rain, just a problem in Chassagne where we had some frost, like in 2016, also in a small part of Savigny-lès-Beaune. We started the harvest on 9 September with the young vines in Volnay and then Nuits Saint-Georges and Chardonnay began three days after. There were 13 days of picking across the 48 hectares of vines. We used 110 pickers [a number increased when they understood that they would have to expedite the harvest] including the 14 people at the winery. The yields were lower with respect to Pinot Noir and greater for Chardonnay, less in Côte de Beaune than in the Côte de Nuits. There were differences between parcels though the Chambolle vineyards were all picked on the same day. The cuvaison was around 20 days including cold maceration with one pigeage and remontage per day without air, until fermentation began. We now use larger barrels for the Bourgogne Rouge and some appellation with no more than 25% new oak for the Premier Crus and maximum 30% for the Grand Crus. The generic red has been bottled, the Village Crus in December and the rest in February and March. The whites will be bottled in April.” This was a good set of wines from Domaine de la Vougeraie, which is the least one would expect given the vineyards in question. My picks both lie in the same appellations: an excellent Gevrey-Chambertin Bel-Air 1er Cru and Charmes-Chambertin Les Mazoyères, the latter utilizing 100% whole bunches to brilliant effect. From time to time, the wines miss that elusive je ne sais quoi that underlies the respective scores, likewise one or two cuvées could not disguise a touch of over-ripeness.

I have followed Domaine de la Vougeraie, based in Prémeaux-Prissey, since its inception in 1999, when Jean-Claude Boisset congregated the vineyard holdings of négociant companies. I remember their debut tasting in London, and to be honest, I found initial vintages under winemaker Pascal Marchand to be too oaky for my liking. Matters changed with the assiduous appointment of Pierre Vincent, a winemaker who dialed everything back and took an enviable portfolio of holdings to greater heights. Vincent departed to join Domaine Leflaive in 2016, a potential setback for a producer with such a wide and demanding portfolio. Current winemaker François Lécaillon escorted me through the 2017s together with general director Sylvie Poillot. “We started the picking on August 28 with the Vougeot Clos Blanc,” he explained. “Then we picked the younger vines of Haute-Côtes de Nuits, followed by the Côte de Beaune and then Côte de Nuits. We finished on September 18, around three weeks later, with the parcels in Brochon. The flowering went very well and we found good balance and maturity in the grapes, though it was dry at the end of the season and there was a bit of hydric stress. The yields are lower in the Côte de Nuits than the Côte de Beaune, from 28hl/ha to a maximum of 36hl/ha. The pH was around 3.30 for the whites and around 3.45 for the reds, but the total acidity is good and alcohol levels come in between 12.6° and 13.2°.” The headline for the 2017 vintage is the diminishing use of oak, almost dichotomous to those produced under Marchand. Even in 2010, the top wines were still being matured in around 80% new oak. “There is less oak for the red and whites,” Lécaillon said. “For example, there is only 25% new oak for the Grand Crus. I felt the oak was a little too strong, especially for the whites. We also do a little less pigeage, just twice, occasionally three times for some vineyards. We maintain a temperature of around 26° Celsius for the fermentation.” Armed with such an impressive array of holdings, there are inevitable gems to be found, and 2017 is no different. Perhaps mirroring the Côte d'Or as a whole, I lean towards the whites over the reds. The Bienvenue-Bâtard-Montrachet is top-drawer, likewise their Charlemagne and Vougeot Clos Blanc. I found the reds a little more hit-and-miss. There are fewer standouts here, although the Bonnes-Mares gives the Musigny a run for its money. The Charmes-Chambertin les Mazoyères ticks all the right boxes, but at the lower rungs of the hierarchy, the wines just lack the star quality of the excellent 2015s or 2016s. There are still some great 2017s from Vougeraie, and I still consider it to be a source of excellent, often extremely well-priced Burgundy.

Winemaker Pierre Vincent showed me a superb set of 2015s at Domaine de la Vougeraie in mid-December and then informed me that he was leaving his position the following week to become régisseur at Domaine Leflaive. Vincent vinified the Domaine de la Vougeraie 2015 reds, except for the entry-level Pinot Noir Terre de Famille, entirely with whole clusters as, he told me, “the grapes, stems and seeds were ripe and perfectly healthy.” The estate harvested its Pinot Noir between September 4 and 15, with only their parcels on the Hautes-Côtes brought in after the rain on September 12 and 13. Potential alcohol levels were mostly between 12% and 12.5%--though a bit higher for a couple of the grand crus—and Vincent chaptalized most of the wines about 0.3%. He did very little in the way of punchdowns (a maximum of three pigeages), then carried out a shorter cuvaison than usual (17 to 20 days, vs. 20 to 25) owing to less post-fermentation maceration. Incidentally, maximum fermentation temperatures at Domaine de la Vougeraie are normally about 28 degrees, as Vincent does not heat the tanks. None of the finished 2015s will exceed 13% alcohol, said Vincent.

Vincent has dramatically reduced his use of new barrels in recent vintages. In 2010 he aged the Vougeraie grand crus in as much as 80% new oak but he used just one-third new barrels across the board for his 2015s, with the objective of highlighting terroir differences more clearly by removing a major winemaking variable. Several of the 2015s had been bottled by the time of my December visits; those that were still in fûts had been racked in early summer.

Vincent described the 2015s as “like a blend of 2010 and 2009,” combining the ripe sweet fruit of the former vintage with some of the tension of the latter. As I had been expressing a similar view of the better 2015s with numerous winemakers during my cellar visits in November and December, I was very interested to hear Vincent make the same comparison on the penultimate evening of my December tour.

Pierre Vincent, who recently left Domaine de la Vougeraie to make wine at Domaine Leflaive, compared the 2014s here to the estate’s 2010s He vinified his Côte de Nuits crus with a high percentage of whole clusters

Pierre Vincent, who recently left Domaine de la Vougeraie to make wine at Domaine Leflaive, compared the 2014s here to the estate’s 2010s. He vinified his Côte de Nuits crus with a high percentage of whole clusters.

Pierre Vincent, who has been responsible for winemaking at this large estate since he succeeded Pascal Marchand in 2006, describes the 2014s as “elegant wines, riper and fruitier than the 2013s. ” Domaine de la Vougeraie started harvesting Pinot Noir on September 14, with the fruit coming in with around 12. 2% potential alcohol; the finished wines will be in the range of 12. 8%. Vincent vinified his Côte de Nuits cuvées with a high percentage of whole clusters (at least 50% for the premier crus and more for the grand crus). He told me he used 80% whole clusters for the Bonnes-Mares and that he might have vinified entirely with whole clusters had he had room in the tank for all of them. The village wines had been bottled a week before my December visit but the crus were still in barrel, slated for bottling in January.

Like many of his colleagues on the Côte d’Or, Vincent has been using steadily less new oak in recent years. Today, virtually all of the estate’s red wines get between 30% and 40% new oak, with a maximum of 50% for the grand crus. In 2015,in fact, he’s using the same breakdown of oak for all of his wines: one-third new, one-third one year old, and one-third two years old. “Too much new oak is boring,” he noted.

Winemaker Pierre Vincent finds the 2014s riper and fruitier than the 2013s, but noted that the '13s have very good phenolic maturity considering the fact that potential alcohol levels in the grapes were typically around 11.7% (he chaptalized an average of one degree). Vincent started harvesting on September 29, thus avoiding the most damaging October rains. I was more than satisfied with the 2013s I tasted in November.

Domaine de la Vougeraie started picking chardonnay on September 26, then brought in its Pinot Noir between October 2 and 15, with potential alcohol levels in the 11.5% to 12% range. Winemaker Pierre Vincent, a very youthful-looking 40, gave the pinots a ten-day pre-fermentation cold soak but noted that he did not have to chill the grapes because the ambient temperatures were low in October. He avoided vinifying hail-affected Côte de Beaune vines with whole clusters but used between 30% and 80% of the stems for all of the Côte de Nuits wines as these vineyards achieved good maturity and were not damaged by hail. Vincent, who took over winemaking here from Pascal Marchand in 2006, has cut back somewhat on the percentage of new oak. Just a few years ago the grand crus here were aged in 80% to 100% new oak but in 2013 the maximum percentage was 60%, and Vincent may eventually go down to 33%. Vincent told me that the 2013s had gained in harmony since June, and that their evolution had slowed down since late summer. "They show a balance similar to the 2010s," he said.

On my last visit to Domaine de la Vougeraie in the mid-2000s, I had to remove my jacket to get comfortable in the main cellar, as the temperature was entirely too warm for November. Back then, wines that began life with considerable promise were frequently too evolved, even tired, by the time they were bottled. Since that time, full temperature control has been installed in the cellars. Winemaker Pierre Vincent, who succeeded Pascal Marchand in 2006, does a pre-fermentation cold soak lasting five to seven days, using cold water to chill the wood vats to about 12 degrees C, as well as a week of further post-fermentation maceration with the temperature no higher than 30 degrees. Vincent is now making more use of whole-cluster vinification, as organic farming is bringing riper stems. He is also using less new oak than previously: about 30% for the village wines, 40% for the premier crus and 50% to 80% for the grand crus. All of the malos finished by July, except for the Nuits Damodes, which was still working at the time of my visit.

Once again, winemaker Pierre Vincent has crafted some of the most impeccable, polished whites and reds in Burgundy. There is a lot to like in this range, all the way from accessible offerings to the rarest and most prized Grand Crus. As good as the best reds are, the Vougeraie whites are just as compelling, especially now that the range has been expanded. As always, farming is biodynamic. The reds, especially at the top end, are vinified with a high amount of whole clusters and see considerable new oak during élevage. Balance is the name of the game in these exceptional Burgundies. Most of the wines I tasted were still in barrel, but a few of the entry-level cuvées were bottled in September 2013. Readers who can find the Vougeraie wines should not hesitate, as they are fabulous.

Winemaker Pierre Vincent describes 2011 as similar to 2007, but with more overall density because the skins were healthier. Vincent adds that the estate's vibrating sorting table was especially helpful in getting rid of the ladybugs that were an issue for a number of growers throughout the region. Vincent tends to use a high percentage of whole clusters. Like most of his colleagues, pulled back a little, but still used more stems than most producers.

This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on this site. I will report on the domaine's 2009s in my April article. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

Biodynamic farming and non-interventionalist winemaking are at the heart of the approach at Domaine de la Vougeraie. The 2009s saw roughly a 25 days of maceration (including a week of cold soak) with one punch down a day. Once in barrel racking was kept to a bare minimum. A number of wines were bottled in late 2010 and early 2011. I tasted these wines with winemaker Pierre Vincent in March 2011.

Crop levels here in 2002 were frequently in the very low 20 to 25 hectoliters-per-hectare range, thanks to this estate's organic viticulture and high percentage of old vines, according to regisseur Pascal Marchand.Marchand destemmed but did not crush the bunches, forklifted the destemmed fruit directly into the fermenters, then did nearly a month of total maceration, including up to two weeks of further skin contact following the end of the alcoholic fermentations.Due to the unusually warm cellar conditions during the summer, Marchand had already bottled a few of his 2002s by mid-November.Among the rest of the wines, only the new casks had been racked by the time of my visit, as these barrels were evolving more quickly than the used barrels, which generally allow for less exchange between the wine and the outside environment.We tasted the 2002s according to their location in this sprawling old cellar rather than in any above-ground geographic order.

Crop levels here in 2002 were frequently in the very low 20 to 25 hectoliters-per-hectare range, thanks to this estate's organic viticulture and high percentage of old vines, according to regisseur Pascal Marchand.Marchand destemmed but did not crush the bunches, forklifted the destemmed fruit directly into the fermenters, then did nearly a month of total maceration, including up to two weeks of further skin contact following the end of the alcoholic fermentations.Due to the unusually warm cellar conditions during the summer, Marchand had already bottled a few of his 2002s by mid-November.Among the rest of the wines, only the new casks had been racked by the time of my visit, as these barrels were evolving more quickly than the used barrels, which generally allow for less exchange between the wine and the outside environment.We tasted the 2002s according to their location in this sprawling old cellar rather than in any above-ground geographic order.

This estate was established in 1999 when the four estates owned by the huge negociant Jean-Claude Boisset were combined. The first order of business was the hiring of winemaker Pascal Marchand away from the Clos des Epeneaux. The Domaine de la Vougeraie comprises 37 hectares, 80% of which are planted to pinot noir. Under the direction of chef de culture Bernard Zito, the Domaine de la Vougeraie has been 100% biologique since 2000. The fruit gets a five- to ten-day cold soak in temperature-controlled stainless steel; following the fermentation the wine goes into barrels by gravity. Bottling, also by gravity, is generally done without fining or filtration. Although there is still considerable improvement to be done in the vines, the domain managed to hold yields to around 30 hectoliters per hectare in 2000, largely by vasivage or the removal of one of two shoots per bud. According to assistant winemaker Jacques Devauges, with whom I tasted in November, due to this method of sharply cutting back the vine production it was not even necessary to do a green harvest in 2001.