Domaine de la Vougeraie Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru ‘Les Evocelles’ 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Harvest date: August 31^st 2020 (root day).
Selection: hand-sorted in the vineyard and on arrival in the winery.
Yield: 19 hl/ha

50% of whole bunches, not crushed and vatted by gravity.
No yeast addition.
Maceration: pre-fermentation, cold  (12-15°C) for 5 days.
Length of maceration: 24 days.
Cap-punched once a day until mid-fermentation and a light pumping-over until the end of vatting time.
Pressing with the vertical press.

Ageing Length: 16 months
Type: in oak barrels.
Percentage of new barrels: 26%
Toasting: gentle and slow.
Source of wood: Citeaux forest
All barrels racked.
Soft filtration. No fining.

About Domaine de la Vougeraie

The Domaine de la Vougeraie was created by bringing together the Boisset family’s vineyards and other wine estates acquired over the years. The first of these goes back to 1964 with the first plot, Les Evocelles, in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin, which was bought by our father when he started out.

More than 20 years later came a second phase, with the addition of more vineyards including our first foothold on the Côte de Beaune. In 1996, the vineyards which today make up the third of our estate on the Côte de Beaune were acquired. This was followed by the acquisition of Le Clos Blanc, the famous monopole which produces its renowned golden nectar. These vines in our family village were the natural inspiration for the Domaine de la Vougeraie, like a return to our childhood roots.

Nathalie & Jean-Charles Boisset

A patchwork of 74 plots covering 42 hectares make up the estate, two-thirds on the Côte de Nuits, one-third on the Côte de Beaune, together producing 36 appellations,  including six grand crus (Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Clos Vougeot, Charmes Chambertin, Mazoyères, Corton Clos du Roi and Corton Charlemagne). At the heart is the diamond set among rubies, the legendary monopole of Vougeot Premier Cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot.

Lovingly tended soils, low yields for concentrated fruit, which is then handled with extreme care throughout growing cycle, followed by hand-stitched vinification and ageing for each plot: All of this contributes to a style that is all about elegance and the continual quest for a precise expression of terroir.

In the Vineyard & Winery

No expense has been spared in production terms. The premier and grand cru vineyards are all farmed biodynamically with carefully limited yields. The cellar has been equipped with a battery of new or renovated wooden fermentation vats, a state of the art sorting table and a new model of the old fashioned vertical press which is thought to be the best option for red wines. The wines were made by Pascal Marchand of Comte Armand in Pommard, from 1999 to 2005 and subsequently by Pierre Vincent who has maintained the more delicate approach. The grapes are sorted before being given a cool pre-maceration. During fermentation Pierre punches down only once a day, much less than Pascal used to. The temperature is maintained at 26º-28ºC/79-81ºF after fermentation to polymerise the tannins and fix the colour. The Musigny is destemmed by hand. Starting in 2008 he has begun to experiment with some whole bunch fermentation, though only for a proportion of a given cuvée.

The 2020 Vintage at Domaine de la Vougeraie

From Burghound

Sylvie Poillot, who is the general manager of this now 52 ha domaine of which 70% of the production is in red, again conducted this year’s tasting. Sharp-eyed readers with good memories might notice another increase in the hectares under management because the domaine bought the Chassagne 1er Morgeot – Clos de la Chapelle from the Duc de Magenta. With respect to the 2020 vintage, Poillot told me that “once again the hot and dry conditions made it imperative to watch maturities very closely as they began to spike as the harvest neared. We chose to begin picking on the 19th of August and unusually, we picked the pinot before the chardonnay. The fruit was super-clean so there was very little sorting required, not only because it was so clean but also because there wasn’t much of it in either color. This is to say that yields for the pinot were only 28 hl/ha on average and not much more for the chardonnay at 33 hl/ha. The problem was that the lack of rainfall and prolonged heat wave evaporated so much juice that there wasn’t much left in the berries. The evaporation of course concentrated everything, both sugars and acidities, so the potential alcohols were very good at between 12.5 to 13.5% in both colors. I used a varying percentage of whole clusters for the reds, and we had no trouble with the vinifications. As to the wines, they have both changed remarkably once in barrel as they have become more focused and 2020 is rounding out to be potentially a great vintage and for both colors. We will of course see over time but at this early juncture, it would be fair to say that it’s extremely promising.

Where in the World is Domaine de la Vougeraie?

Domaine de la Vougeraie is based in Premeaux just south of Nuits St Georges. This wine comes from Gevrey-Chambertin.