In just over one week – Friday April 8th 2022 – Sotheby’s will commence an online charity auction of wines from Burgundy. The final recipient of these funds will be the Cistercian Abbey of Cîteaux, established in 1098.
sothebys.com/vougeotpourciteaux
The syndicate of producers of Clos de Vougeot and the Fondation du Patrimoine – so a group of domaines in addition to the syndicate – are coming together for this event in order to aid the restoration and conservation of the Définitoire of Cîteaux Abbey in Burgundy. Those additional domaines from up and down the Côte d’Or donating wines (red and white) as additional lots for the auction.
Twenty four* of the syndicate of producers of Clos de Vougeot have donated wine from their 2020 vintage. The elevage of this assembly has been entrusted to Château de la Tour with a planned bottling time in September 2022. There is a little over 2-barrels worth of wine – 570-litres – that has been set aside for this auction.
*Clos de Vougeot Contributors: Domaine d’Ardhuy, Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils, Domaine Capitain-Gagnerot, Domaine Charlopin-Parizot, Domaine du Clos Frantin (Albert Bichot), Domaine Drouhin-Laroze, Maison Dufouleur Frères, Domaine d’Eugenie, Domaine Faiveley, Domaine François Lamarche, Domaine Jacques Prieur, Maison Joseph Drouhin, Maison Louis-Jadot, Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Domaine Michel Noëllat, Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, Château Philippe le Hardi, Domaine H. Rebourseau, Maison Remoissenet, Domaine René Dubois, Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Château de la Tour, Domaine de la Vougeraie.
Contributors of other lots: Domaine Marquis d’Angerville, Domaine du Comte Armand, Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur, Domaine Henri Boillot, Domaine Bonneau du Martray, Domaine Dujac, Domaine des Hospices de Beaune, Domaine Kloster Eberbach, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine des Lambrays, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Leroy, Château de Vosne Romanée – Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, Domaine Jacques Frédéric Mugnier, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Domaine Emmanuel Rouget, Domaine Georges Roumier, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Taupenot-Merme, Domaine Comte George de Vogüé.
In addition, on Saturday, April 23rd 2022, there will be a charity dinner in the Château du Clos de Vougeot – which includes a tour of the Abbaye de Cîteaux – tickets for this 5-course charity dinner are available online and cost €228 per person. The internet auction will close during this dinner. Honourary guests will include the Abbot of Cîteaux, Father Pierre-André Burton, Aubert de Villaine, and Guillaume Poitrinal who is the president of the Fondation du Patrimoine – plus, of course, multiple winegrowers who are supporting this project. Arnaud Orsel of the Tastevinage, headquartered in the Château du Clos de Vougeot makes the following comment “Seat of the Climats de Bourgogne World Heritage Site, the Château du Clos de Vougeot was owned and occupied by the monks for more than seven hundred years. It was only natural then to put our savoir-faire at the service of Cîteaux Abbey by conceiving, organizing and hosting this charity auction which will take place in the Great Cistercian Cellar.”
The wine…
A label has been designed for this cuvée that amply highlights the link to the Abbey of Cîteaux – done with pure-gold elements that are redolent of the old texts and manuscripts of the monks. The label is the work of artisan caligrapher Christelle Sordel – and took her over 80 hours to complete the original artwork.
2020 Clos de Vougeot, Cuvée de l’Abbaye de Cîteaux
Tasted today. Only 13.5°, which is modest for 2020, likewise there’s plenty of colour but this is far from saturated. Hmm, that‘s a sophisticated nose – wide, faintly oak-spiced and saline with some implied silk to the aroma – still, it’s a little tighter in the higher tones as there’s no obvious floral component here – today. In the recent run of warmer vintages, you can forget the old chestnut of ‘austere Clos de Vougeot;‘ this wine is framed by the most modest of tannin – über-fine-grained – and whilst this tannin modifies the texture so that it becomes more velvet in textural style, this tannin has no dryness. Balanced, with fine width of flavour, delivered in layers – some oak complexity here for sure. A wine that’s neither overtly vibrant nor mineral but soothing, complex and certainly well-concentrated, like the nose, there remains impressive sophistication. Not an obviously grand vin today but with more elevage to come, it is still a very good, potentially excellent, grand cru – and with zero faults. Almost too tasty for young CV!
In French you may see some of the scope of the rennovation: