Domaine Mongeard Mugneret Richebourg 2016

Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret farms less than one precious acre in the Grand Cru vineyard of Richebourg in the village of Vosne-Romanée. The average age of their vines is 45 years, all of the grapes are picked by hand, and then ultimately the wine is aged in 100% new oak. The village of Vosne, known as early as 639 as 'Vaona', was in later centuries a hunting preserve of the Dukes of Burgundy. Viticulture dates back to at least 1232, when the vineyard now known as Romanée-Conti belonged to the Abbey of Cîteaux. This illustrious grand cru wine is made by a family which arrived to the village of Vosne-Romanée in the 18th century, and records show a Mongeard working as vigneron for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in 1786. In 1945, Jean Mongeard, whose mother was a Mugneret, found himself making wine at the age of 16. His father had died five years before, and there was no one left to do the job. The entire 1945 crop was purchased by Baron le Roy, Marquis d'Angerville and Henri Gouges. Gouges instructed the young Mongeard to personally bottle the wines, rather than sell in barrel, because of the exceptional quality of the family's wines. Robert Parker describes the wines of the domaine: 'The style of winemaking seems to extract rich, supple, concentrated fruit from the grapes...The wines always seem to show well young, but also age nicely for 10-15 years.' This Richebourg 2015 will age wonderfully in a proper cellar for 20-25 years.