Every couple of years the syndicate of producers of grand cru Clos de Vougeot put on a tasting of recent and a little older, vintages. It’s timed to coincide with the Grand Jours de Bourgogne – I wasn’t registered for the GJDB but I made myself available for this 🙂

The wines…

2019 Château Philippe Le Hardi
A cushioned, clean, round berry nose. Supple in the mouth, juicy – there’s intensity but no austerity, modest bitters, slowly fading. Not a Clos de Vougeot to strike fear into the heart – it’s delicious.

2015 Dr Georges Mugneret
A pretty and airy width of aroma, slightly cushioned – faintly spiced but not floral. Fine scale in the mouth, framed by a small tannin – hardly any grain to this texture. The finish is broad, tasty and complex – that’s a lovely finish but clearly a wine to have patience with – another 10 years will be to your advantage.

2014 Méo-Camuzet
Some extra high tones present that become more and more perfumed. More sinuous in style and the concentration is obvious, but the flavour is mobile and not too generous. Lots of finishng bitters again and some faint dryness of tannin too – but here we have some delicious last notes. To keep as long as the Dr Georges, for sure, but I prefer the more energetic esprit of this wine.

2014 Gros Frère & Soeur ‘Musigni‘
Higher toned aromas – actually quite pretty, if less concentrated than the Camuzet. Rather jammy red fruit and an ultra-fine grain of tannin that frames the flavours – rather juicy too. I like this finish – very wide and mouth-watering…

2014 Dubois
Airy aromas of red fruit, slightly warm without a large impact. I like the fluidity of flavour in the mouth though – juicy, not austere – despite a small velour of drying tannin. The finish a long, narrow, line of okay flavour…

2013 Château Latour Vieilles-Vignes
Hmm – that’s a very pretty nose. Large in the mouth – full of architectural energy – so juicy too – a touch of herb to the otherwise delicious finishing flavours. I think this could be a great one in another 5 years or so!

2012 Thibault Liger-Belair
The first wine with a more sous-bois nose and interesting age-related complexity. Large scale in the mouth, still plenty of oak that I’d prefer to fade. But the finish I really love despite the barrel…

2012 Armelle & Bernard Rion
That’s quite a herby nose – almost liegeux (lightly corky). In the mouth there’s good scale with a proper CV architecture. The finish drying today, its rather drinkable but, so far, my least favourite wine…

2012 Jacques Prieur
That’s a fine and precise aroma – it’s a beautiful nose. In the mouth there’s energy, still some small tannic grain. I like this a lot but you should probably wait another 8-10 years.

2012 Manuel Oliver
From magnum – A little jaminess and mint leaf but really interesting. Actually, this is very silky – okay of velour! The overall wine is very good rather than great but it’s certainly one of the best textured…

2011 Gerard Raphet
The nose red fruit and peanuts. In the mouth, the shape and elegance of the vintage are present – but pyrazne peanuts too…

2011 Philippe Charlopin
Hmm – cleaner – this aroma has lovely energy – it’s a great invitation. Lovely – wide, quite fluid. A micro-grain of tannin. That’s a really super 2011!

2011 Jean Grivot
There’s the pyrazine and peanut of the vintage front of stage. In the mouth too – but the shape, texture and energy are first class – but not my thing unfortunately…

2009 Faiveley
Hmm, here is some modest but very interesting perfume. Great width and texture – I think the 2009s are coming around! That’s really a super wine!

2003 Michel Gros
Form magnum: Leafy and showing some maturity – but there’s aromatic density too. Concentrated, really good texture – I’m impressed with it – and not a bit overblown in the context of the last 7-8 vintages…