Tasted in Premeaux with Sylvie Poillot, 02 April, 2018.
Domaine de la Vougeraie
Rue de l’Église
Premeaux
21700 Nuits St.Georges
Tel: +33 3 80 62 48 25
www.domainedelavougeraie.com
Sylvie on 2018:
“Our 2018 harvest started in August, and with the pinot – the young vines in Volnay that were already registering 13.2° followed by the Nuits Clos de Thorey – half of which are young vines which go into Terres de Famille Bourgogne. We finished our harvest in our Hautes Côtes de Nuits, near Chaux. We have 7 hectares there which are a mix of red and white. In total, we had 3 weeks of harvesting, but that wasn’t really very much longer than normal – the maturity was key. We have 3 harvest teams Côte de Beaune, Côte de Nuits and almost an emergency team for whenever or wherever they are needed – usually for chardonnay as we have a narrow picking window. As for the fermentations, we generally saw no problems.”
Sylvie on 2017:
2017 was a good harvest but not with lots of volume inthe reds – the same as in 2018 – of course we still had plenty if compared to the frosted 2016s! We are starting our main campaign to bottle next week, with the whites. In this vintage we used less new oak generally, and for the whites too – we have more use of 450l barrels.
The wines…
My second tasting here since Pierre Vincent has moved-on to Domaine Leflaive – the quality remains steady. Many of the reds could be described as sitting at the elegant end of the spectrum of concentration – but what elegance – the grand crus are great though. The top whites, likewise!
The only vines not in the domaine, this is a fermage arrangement with the local community
Nice depth of colour. A deep nose, faintly touched with reduction but ample and attractive fruit with a touch of whole clusters. Ooh, that’s a beautiful texture, layered and delicious – a burst of energy. Wide, a little finishing energy too. Long – great cdb!
2017 Pommard Les Petits Noizons
1.5 hectares of viones here.
A width of fresher, more floral aroma, eventually more whole-cluster roses too. More direct and fresh, great energy again, lingering, less weight, but there’s a delicate complexity here – longer too.
2017 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles
One third of old vines
Less wide but this has a deep and dynamic aroma. In shape it’s a cross between the last two, with lovely depth of texture but there’s complexity and fresh stricture here, excellent wine, floral and long finishing.
2017 Chambolle-Musigny
7 parcels with a little Baudes and Gruenchers 1ers for good measure.
A beautiful aroma but there’s weight here – there’s some muscle here too! Fine, transparent, complex – definitely elegant but with such a lovely strucure and depth of flavour. Gorgeous!
2017 Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos de Thorey
The Monopoly of the clos here – the middle of Aux Thorey – but really not allowed to write monopole, despite using the label for many years at Rodet… This the old vines. The young vines like most from the domaine go into the Bourgogne. Like the other cuvees, less wood in 2017.
Ooh, deep, faint, excitingly complex nose from some stems. Hmm, direct, less giving to start vs the Chambolle but a wine that opens wider and wider, bubblingly complex in the midde and finish, mineral and long. Today more discreet than the last, but delicious all the same.
2017 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Belair
A fine if narrow and reluctant nose today. Hhm, a modest start to the flavour, quickly widening, mineral, complex, melting with fine flavour. Beautifully holding in the finish. A beautifully elegant wine of clarity and complexity.
2017 Corton Clos du Roi
77 year-old vines, small grapes.
Not a full-power nose, but a beautiful one with such a clarity of fruit. More volume, clarity again, a suggestion of tannin, but energy and a growing well of mouth-watering flavour. Wide and mouth watering in the finish – so long – wow finishing!
2 parcels, one of 1 hectare high in the clos near the château, the smaller 0.5 ha parcel at the bottom, they are vinified separately.
Ooh, now that’s a fine invitation. A beautiful nose – bravo. Pure, intense, a wave of flavour, depth to the flavour too – ooh bravo great cv!
The oldest vines of the domaine here with some of 104 years – and these are used for the domaines massale selection.
Not a full-power nose but with an ample width of cushioned, impossibly complex, fruit – my style preference is the last wine, but this is more complex and perfumed. A deep core, almost impenetrable yet melting with fine fruit/mineral flavours all around the edges. Beautiful mid-palate flavour that’s tenacious in the finish. Another grand vin.
From Chambolle-side, right on the border with Morey… “You can’t miss it, it’s that hole in the ground with the sign, plus another higher parcel.”
A more composed, but still full and very perfumed nose – wow! A ripple of tannin here, mouth-filling, energetic, complex wine. Layered at the last, and simply ‘present’ in the finish as it holds so persistently. More to wait for than the last two – and that’s saying something – yet already delicious.
The Whites:
2017 Côte de Beaune Pierre Blanches
Same parcel as the red
Not the biggest nose but concentrated and fresh at the core. Hmm, a certain fat to the texture is my first impression but then the wine takes off with an acid intensity and compelling line of flavour. A super finish – almost vibrant, yet before this was hardly a wine of energy despite its acidity – call it composure – delicious wine.
2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc
Vermots and Golardes, harvested the same day.
This tank sample has a nose that’s not quite in place but with a weight of fresh fruit. The palate, however, is super, intense, ripe-fruited but energetic, almost creamy and malic at the same time – my desert of preference! Mouth-watering and touched by tannin in the finish. Excellent!
Less volume because the ducks were eating the grapes! Watch out for Vougeriae organic paté to go with their honey next year!
Hmm – toasty, faintly reductive, golden, inviting fruit. Ooh, perfect in the mouth – open, depth of pure flavour – growing in intensity, still with a touch of firework reduction – simply delicious – bravo!
2017 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gains
Third vintage – 0.33 hectares that came from Girardin.
A more mineral depth of flavour, touched by faint flowers – fresher and deliciously inviting. More volume, more open, more precision – the intensity is a notch higher too with fine grapefruit intensity. Thus will certainly improve on the Vougeout but not for the next 6 months! Excellent but have a little patience!
Always 3 harvests here – top, middle and then the bottom comes last.
Beautiful white flower perfume – almost acacia. Vibrant, mineral, layered, no excess in any direction. So wide, vibrantly finishing great wine. Not the biggest or fattest but the best – so far!
2 vines – one week difference in harvesting – one Le Charlemagne, the other En Charlemagne. Now labelled since 2013 as ‘Charlemagne,’ the en and le assembled just before bottling.
Here is a freshness that’s almost peppery, pure – there’s almost a cold side to this impressive nose. Round but bundled with energy – a wine trying to escape from the chains that bind it – a deliciously agrume acidity, holding an intensity of flavour. Very slowly fading, ooh superb – bravo!
Almost 0.5 hectare, former Henri Clerc estate
Simply a wow nose – hard to explain, but there’s a floral-creamy depth that the others don’t have. Hmm, another level of flavour, despite delicatesse, despite elegance, but so insistently mineral, but with softened flavours of flowers and fruit – ‘Because I’m worth it’