2019 Bourgogne Rouge

Pascal Mugneret has discretely made Domaine Gérard Mugneret one of the most sought-after producers in Vosne-Romanée. At present, he occupies that liminal point where he is well known and respected, but does not attract the obsessive following or price speculation of its blue chip names. How long that will last is another question and I am probably not helping by proclaiming just how good these wines are. “The 2019s are 100% whole bunches across the range and it is the first time that I have done that,” Mugneret told me. “We began the picking on 13 September. Winter was like autumn, humid and grey. It was nice at the beginning of spring but the flowering was not good, so it was a small harvest. The average yield is 28hl/ha. We had a hot summer with a nice quantity of rain in July, 36mm, then another 40mm in early August and then just 5mm until 21 August. We had enough water in 2019 but in 2020 there was less - 20mm in 50 days. There was no problem with the alcoholic fermentation and we did not have to adjust the wines that are between 12.7° and 13.4° natural. We will rack the entry-level wines next week and bottle in December. We taste every month to decide if we should bottle or not, but I don’t think it will be as long as other vintages.”

There were a couple of wines amongst the 2019s that I felt were at an awkward stage, including his only Grand Cru in Echézeaux that just lacked frisson. The pick of the bunch, literally, is a fantastic Nuits Saint-Georges Les Richemone. No wonder Mugneret poured this as the final wine.