Domaine de la Vougeraie Reviews

Complex aromas and flavors of red berry, sandalwood, vanilla, floral and mineral are alluring, made all the more appealing by the elegant frame and vivid structure. Silky and harmonious enough to drink now, but this should really sing in five to seven years. Offers a fine, smoky finish.

The 2015 Charmes Chambertin les Mazoyeres Grand Cru offers up notes of red and black fruit, beetroot, earth and whole cluster spice. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, rich and silky, with an expansive attack, a layered mid-palate and a long, saline finish. This is quite stylized, marked by whole cluster fermentation which seems to give it a high pH feel, but for admirers of this particular aesthetic—a perspective my score reflects—this should offer two decades of rewarding drinking.

The 2015 Charlemagne Grand Cru is attractively delicate and youthfully reserved, wafting from the glass with notes of green apple, lemon cream and white flowers, more exotic notions of persimmon and spice emerging with extended aeration. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, taut and racy, with a bright line of acid, good concentration, and a long, vibrant finish. I expect more texture and dimension will emerge with a few years of bottle age, as the balance and persistence are very good.

The 2015 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru is very pretty, wafting from the glass with aromas of strawberry, blood orange, plum, peony and some whole cluster spice on the upper register. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, supple and expansive, with silky tannins, an open-knit but juicy core, and a sapid, almost saline finish. A delicate, transparent and rather stylized Bonnes Mares from Domaine de la Vougeraie.

A powerful and serious red Burgundy, this is a blend from two parcels in Gilly-lès-Citeaux, near the domaine’s base in Vougeot, and two parcels in Beaune. It layers rose scents and flavors of cranberry and anise over substantial tannins, the structure sophisticated and firm.

 

The Boisset family owns some of the rare chardonnay vines in Vougeot, farming them under biodynamics and consistently producing distinctly delicious white Burgundy from the Côte de Nuits. Of the 74 plots covering 104 acres, this monopole, across a small road to the north of Clos de Vougeot, is its most prized. Jasper Morris, MW, in an article for this magazine (October 2012), compared the soil at this site to that of Vougeraie’s holding directly across the road, where pinot noir is planted in the Clos de Vougeot: “The Clos Blanc is much lighter in color, with more chips of limestone evident. The underlying rock is different too, being an unusual salmon pink conglomerate of the Oligocene period, not seen in Clos de Vougeot or other adjoining vineyards.” The monks who are said to have planted this site to white grapes in 1110 would have probably donned sunglasses to taste this 2015. It’s powerfully compressed, blinding in its white-lime acidity, a cool, crisp evocation of the soil. Flinty in its youthful reduction, there’s something ineffably refreshing about this wine.

More animal and mineral than fruity, this wine needs long exposure to air for the detail in its gentle tannins to become apparent. There’s a cherry-leaf greenness to the black-cherry flavor, turning toward smoke and gravel as the structure takes shape. For the cellar.

North of Clos de Vougeot, close to the village and the Vouge, the stream that gives the village its name, this two acres of chardonnay on pebbly limestone produced a juicy 2015 with flavors of fresh-cut pear. It expands from lean to opulent, finding a sweet and salty balance. Not as long-lived as Le Clos Blanc, this should be ready to drink after a year or two in the cellar.

Healthy medium red. Subtle aromas of redcurrant, spices and earth, plus a hint of smoke. A supple, sweet, attractive midweight without any edges. Intense red fruits and dusty brown spices carry very well through the fine-grained finish. Suavely tannic for Corton, this wine should have very good staying power in the bottle. -- Stephen Tanzer

Good medium red. Pure but subdued aromas of currant, black cherry, smoky stone, licorice and violet. Intensely flavored and evolving slowly, combining a restrained sweetness and good salty minerality. Darker in its fruit character than the Clos de Thorey. The wine's strong, spicy, tannic finish calls for more élevage. -- Stephen Tanzer

Bright medium red. Aromas of redcurrant, cherry and spices. Offers more energy and definition than the Clos du Roi, with higher-pitched flavors of spices and red fruits. A juicy Beaune wine with a touch of youthful bitterness on the back end, but sound acids and tannins give grip to the finish.

Medium red. More smoke and leather than red fruits on the nose. Silky in texture, with a touch of raspberry fruit currently overshadowed by spices, earth and underbrush. Offers a restrained sweetness in the middle palate, then finishes with a slightly rustic dusty quality.