Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Grand Cru ‘Bonnes-Mares’ 2023

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Comte Georges de Vogüé

The de Vogüé family can lay claim to being the oldest winemaking family in Burgundy, with roots going back more than 500 years and with more than 20 generations having worked on the Domaine. The 20th century part of their tenure began with Georges de Vogüé who was in the driving seat from 1925, until his death in 1987. For the most part, these were good years for the Domaine, although in the latter part of his life aggressive chemical treatments applied to his vineyards drew criticism and led to weaker vintages overall through the 1970s and 1980s, which though criticised as too diluted, still had hefty price tags.

Upon Georges’ death he was succeeded by his only daughter, Elisabeth, who grabbed the bull by the horns and succeeded in turning things around through the hiring of a new winemaker, as well as sales and marketing team. In doing so, a new, gentler nature-led philosophy came to hold sway over the Domaine and this is continued today by the current owners – the granddaughters of Georges de Vogüé. They have continued their mother’s work in bringing the wines of this relatively small estate to global prominence.

The fascinating history and links with the Roumier family have been explored by Bill Nanson in his profile of the Domain.

François Millet Winemaker 1988-2020

Previous winemaker François Millet has been responsible for work in the winery from 1988 until 2020. He’s raised the bar to new levels. It is said that he had a crew of 60 using tweezers to remove damaged berries for the hail effected 1991 vintage. The end results proving the merit of the effort in the glass. Not content with making only Comte Georges de Vogüé, makes a suite of wines under François Millet & Fils covering Chambolle, Gevrey, Volnay and Beaune. Making his way to the southern hemisphere where he makes wine with Paul Pujol of Prophet’s Rock in Bendigo, Central Otago. I can help but think that this diversity of exposure can only help add to François’ wisdom as a vigneron, further cross-pollenation coming via his two sons working at Domaine Antonin Guyon and in the vineyard and Roumier.

In the Vineyard

The estate owns some 80 percent of grand cru Le Musigny, and a significant portion of grand cru Bonnes-Mares. Its premier cru Chambolle-Musigny is crafted exclusively from younger-vine fruit in Musigny; its Bourgogne Blanc is crafted from younger-vine Chardonnay grown also in Musigny (which may soon be born again as a Musigny Blanc).

Vineyards are cared for essentially according to organic principles, although the estate is not certified. Beneficial herbs are planted between vineyard rows to control pests; vineyards are plowed by horse; the estate makes its own organic compost.

Jean Lupatelli winemaker from 2021 explores Musigny

In the Winery

Historically, the Domaine’s previous winemaker François Millet did not follow a set formula in making his wines, preferring vintage conditions and the fruit of the vine to dictate what’s needed. Grapes more often than not are destemmed and then fermented on indigenous yeasts in large wooden vats. Very little sulfur was added during fermentation or at bottling.

In general, village wines were aged in 15 percent new French oak barrels, while grand cru wines see no more than 35 percent new oak. Wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Jean Lupatelli, who replaced long-time technical director François Millet (who has started his own domaine) for the 2021 harvest, is not surprisingly instituting certain changes that include the use of whole clusters in the vinifications, extending the élevage period before the bottling and perhaps the most important of all, changing the barrel regime. He noted that the first two would be perceptible immediately, though modifying how, and what oak is used would be a longer process as he wants to be sure to not mark the wines with too much new wood all at once.

The 2023 Vintage at Comte Georges de Vogüé

From Burghound:

As I reported last year, Jean Lupatelli, who replaced long-time technical director François Millet (who has started his own domaine – see those reviews herein), is not surprisingly instituting certain changes that include the use of whole clusters in the vinifications, extending the élevage period before the bottling and perhaps the most important of all, changing the barrel regime. He noted that the first two would be perceptible immediately, though modifying how, and what oak is used would be a longer process as he wants to be sure to not mark the wines with too much new wood all at once.

With respect to the 2023 vintage, Lupatelli observed that the “primary key to the vintage in my opinion was to adequately control yields for all of the reasons that everyone who is paying attention understands. We dropped an incredible amount of fruit, in fact it’s hard to believe but entirely true that we eliminated fully 50% of the potential crop in Bonnes Mares! Otherwise the season was relatively easy to manage though the harvest itself had its challenges as well though mainly because it was just so hot.

We picked between the 6th and the 13th and the fruit was really pretty clean and because we had dropped those bunches that appeared less promising, we didn’t have much sorting. Yields were still much higher than normal for us at least, which is to say 33 to 34 hl/ha versus our historical norm of 25 hl/ha. Potential alcohols were strong at between 13 and 14% with an average right at 13.5%. For the vinifications I used on average 50% whole clusters over a total cuvaison period of around 17 days. The fermentations proceeded with no problems though there was more sugar than usual released when we pressed the solids because of the high percentage of shot berries so that required quite a bit of vigilance to avoid rising volatile acidity levels. As to the wines, I actually like them quite a bit and stylistically, they remind me of a denser version of 2005.” Lupatelli also noted that .5 ha in Musigny was pulled up to eventually be replanted.

I would repeat what I said last year, which is to say that while it’s still early days, it seems to this observer that what Lupatelli is doing is working extremely well as there seems to be even more refinement. In another minor but important change, as of 2022 the vintage is now printed on top of the cork as well as in the middle as a nod to helping prove authenticity.

Where in the World are They?

Comte Georges de Vogüé is one of the icons of Chambolle-Musigny with all of it’s vineyards in the Village. The Domaine holds 70% of the fabled Musigny vineyard!

The domaine today owns 12.6 ha of vineyards where the main part is located in the two Grand Cru vineyards Musigny and Bonnes Mares.

The vineyard holdings are as follows:

• Musigny – 7.20ha
• Bonnes Mares – 2.70 ha
• Les Amoureuses – 0.56 ha
• Chambolle-Musigny village and 1er cru
  • Les Baudes – 0.1328 ha
  • Les Fuees – 0.1461 ha
  • Les Porlottes
  • Les Jutruots
  • La Taupe