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By Linden Wilkie, 8 Jan 2019

One of the finest and most ancient domaines in Burgundy, emblematic of the noble finesse of Chambolle-Musigny, the Domaine is the largest owner of Musigny Grand Cru.

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé is unique in its long history, tracing its beginnings to the 15th century with ownership passing through 20 generations to the present proprietors. In 1925 it was inherited by Comte Georges de Vogüé, who ran the Domaine for 52 years, and is now owned by his granddaughters, Claire de Causans and Marie de Ladoucette.

Tasting all the 2018s from barrel with François Millet in November 2019, quality is clearly high, with all wines showing good depth, luscious fruit, but also fine acidity and minerality where you expect it. Millet felt it was also important to delay malolactic fermentation past the winter to help keep the freshness and terroir definition. 2018 also required a very delicate approach to extraction. The Bonnes Mares, for example, saw only one punch down during the entire élevage, and the Amoureuses no punch down – only ‘infusion’. The whole collection is top form in 2018, and it was a memorable tasting.

Vogüé especially rewards longer cellaring, and the good news here is that the Domaine is blessed with a generous share of grands crus, and to an ‘inverse’ allocation is possible here – i.e. more grand cru red.

The Chambolle-Musigny village has a remarkably deep colour, a sweet gourmand nose; and is ripe, juicy and full on the palate, with lots of fruit concentration up front, a little firmness but also plenty of fleshiness. The Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (all from Musigny plots) shows a fine nose with more minerality, ripe forest berries; lots of berry fruit on the palate too, but with a wonderful sense of lift and airiness, this is supple, and long with fine grip. The Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Amoureuses’ shows a fine, detailed aroma, cherry pits, spices and black tea details and an overall fine mineral nose; there’s a lovely gentle sweetness and scent that starts forward and pushes back. There’s a lot of detail, finesse and layering, and real harmony. The Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru has a particularly deep colour, lots of blue and black fruit, this is succulent and round-textured, fleshy and seductive with a really mouth-filling finish and great length. A terrific Bonnes-Mares. The Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru was just a little more closed when we tasted it, with a fine but shy nose; the palate shows plenty of velvet, good concentration of fruit and depth, minerality, layering, and plenty of very fine tannins providing a clear frame to the wine, and indicating that long cellaring will be rewarded and required here. A majestic Musigny.

The vineyard holdings are as follows:

Musigny Grand Cru 7.20 ha
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2.70 ha
Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru Les Amoureuses 0.56 ha
Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru Les Baudes 0.1328 ha
Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru Les Fuées 0.1461 ha
Chambolle-Musigny 1.80 ha

Photos courtesy of Christie's