2017 Bourgogne Rouge

Former engineer Pascal Mugneret currently flies under the radar in terms of the quality of his wines. In fact, he was completely off the radar when I arrived at his winery, delayed after attending a tasting down in Beaune. “It was not a complicated season,” he explained when he finally arrived. “I started the picking on September 4 and finished five days later. The average yield is 42hl/ha. Alcohol levels are around 12.8° and we did not chaptalise much. In fact, we are doing that less, year by year.” Readers will find details in individual tasting notes of his use of whole clusters, a practice he introduced with the 2012 vintage, along with using minimal SO2. Sadly, this will be the last vintage to include his excellent Nuits Saint-Georges Les Boudots. Under a decree of 1936, Pascal Mugneret was permitted to blend and label his two parcels in La Richemone and Les Cras as “Boudots,” but henceforth he must vinify and bottle them separately, as you will see from the tasting notes. These are stylish, well-balanced, unpretentious wines that deliver in bottle. Mugneret’s use of whole bunches is very astute and he captures the richness of the 2017 vintage without excess.