Domaine Mongeard Mugneret Clos de Vougeot 2019

The Mongeard family arrived in 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.'

Since 1997, Vincent Mongeard, Jean's son, has been responsible for viticulture and vinification of the domaine's wines. He persuaded his father to return to the traditional method of bottling, without filtration, filtering only with certain vintages. Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret today covers a total area of more than 25 hectares, divided into 22 appellations. Their vineyards are 45-50 years old on average, and are grafted with superior Pinot Noir clones. All of the wines are 100% de-stemmed with the exception of Richebourg, for which they include 1/3 stems for more tannic structure. The Echezeaux is made from the climats of Echézeaux du Dessus and Les Treux and aged in 75% new oak.

Mongeard Mugneret Clos de Vougeot is harmonious, round, generous, fleshy, ample, mellow, racy and elegant, with a deep rich ruby red color. The bouquet has exceptional aromatic intensity with concentrated perfumes of rich red and black fruits (cherries, mulberries, blackcurrants), vanilla and spices, woodland undergrowth, violets and, with age, animal pelts, all mingle and combine. In the mouth this ample, meaty, muscular wine achieves perfect balance between fine tannins, mellowness, and a discreet acidity; the complex aromas linger very long in the mouth.

The soils in Clos de Vougeot consist of hard limestone with low clay. 100 % Pinot Noir averaging 45 to 50 years. Harvesting by hand exclusively. Hand-sorted in the winery. De-stemmed. Aged 80 to 100 % in new oak barrels.