Domaine de la Vougeraie Grand Cru ‘Musigny’ 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

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 2022 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, told me that the 2022 growing season was “hot, dry and so much easier to manage than was 2021. Yes, we did have some early season excitement with frost risk and then June brought a massive storm with hail, where we had vines affected in Gevrey and Nuits. In the end though, the abundant water from the storm served the vines well later in the season as it really was exceptionally dry. We picked from the 26th of August to the 13th of September and as always, it was necessary to be extremely well-organized as we have 170 different parcels. Moreover, getting the 150 pickers where they needed to be is a challenge that requires precision.

Yields were good though not especially generous with potential alcohols that were mostly in the 12.5 to 13% range, in fact the highest was our parcel of Charmes-Chambertin that came in at 13.5%. I chose to vinify very lightly as there were only two punch downs total. I used varying levels of whole clusters and some, especially for the top level wines, were fully 100%. As to the wines, I love this vintage as it has excellent terroir transparency with good verve and freshness. Moreover, it’s really good in both colors which isn’t something that happens all the time. I would compare the reds to perhaps 2012 and the whites remind me quite a bit of our 2017s.” I was impressed by the quality I found here as several of the wines are excellent and in particular the Beaune “Grèves”, Charmes-Chambertin and the Musigny really stood out.

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 is from Chambolle-Musigny.