2018 Bourgogne Rouge

Pascal Mugneret is a grower that I have been heaping praise upon for several years now. Subsequently he has become one of the hot names to drop, for no other reason that he fashions superb expressions of Pinot Noir. You just have to keep up with some changes in his entry level crus, which I explain within respective tasting notes. I asked him about the 2018 growing season. “There was a period when it was not easy," he told me, "in June when we had 15 rainy days plus it was quite warm. This created mildew pressure in Vosne-Romanée but otherwise it was fine. The end of spring and summer was warm with some dry periods, but we did not observe any hydric stress, probably because of rain in spring and the previous winter. The yields were very reasonable and it was important to get the grapes ripe early. We started the picking on 1 September in Savigny-lès-Beaune and in Vosne-Romanée four days later. Two cuvées took long for the sugar to ferment though we didn’t really have any reduction that we anticipated since we found some nitrogen missing in the juice. For the first time, we used a technique to "dynamize" the juice that balances oxidation and reduction. At between 15 and 30 points of density we take the juice and aerate it in a figure of eight. I discovered this technique in Tours." (Mugneret showed me a video of this technique that I have not seen before. It’s like a controlled waterfall, the juice swishing in a circular motion, alternating between left and right, as it enters the vat.) Mugneret’s wines remain reasonably priced compared to fellow Vosne winemakers and given their quality, they come highly recommended.