2016 Vosne-Romanée Village

The Mugneret sisters were in the process of constructing a big new cellar when I visited in January. It would have come in handy for the copious harvest of ’17, when the estate also got back two hectares' worth of wine from vines in Vosne-Romanée that they had previously rented out, but they probably didn’t need the space in 2016, when their crop was down 45% from normal. Marie-Christine Mugneret told me that in some parcels, the estate lost more fruit to mildew than to frost. “Some grapes where we didn’t even notice mildew fell off the vines in late June and early July,” she said.

The Mugnerets started harvesting on September 12, with their Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Chaignots at about 12.6% potential alcohol and their grand crus ranging between 12.8% and 13.2%. Thanks in part to the relatively early picking dates, said Marie-Andrée Mugneret, the wines are concentrated but fresh too. At the time of my visit, the estate’s Bourgogne, Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes, Ruchottes-Chambertin and Clos Vougeot were still in barrels, while the rest of the wines had been assembled in tanks two weeks earlier. Marie-Christine thought that the wines in tank were fresher than those still in fûts but she needn’t have worried. She added that there was no logic to 2016 owing to the challenges during the growing season and that’s why she strayed from her normal order of presenting the wines.

Both sisters find their '16s very flattering in the early going. Marie-Christine noted that, in contrast, the tannins of the ‘15s have become more apparent since the bottling last spring. She added that they found the polyphenols very ripe at the beginning but that it was essential not to overextract.