Domaine Jean-Jacques Côte de Nuits-Villages ‘Les Vignottes’ 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron

Sophie Confuron and husband Alain Meunier assumed control of this wonderful Domaine from Sophie’s father, Jean-Jacques Confuron in 1988. Gradually they are handing it over to their son Louis.

The domaine goes back to the marriage in 1926 of Jean Confuron de Vosne and Anne-Marie Bouchard de Premeaux, starting with the vines that they both inherited. Together, they acquired more and started selling their own bottled wine in the early 1930s. Jean died in 1965. They had two sons, Christian and Jean-Jacques, who worked together until 1980. Jean-Jacques set up his own estate in 1981, but he died in January 1983. From then on it was his wife Andrée Noëllat and his daughter Sophie who took care of the estate. Sophie met Alain Meunier at the Lycée agricole in Beaune and from the 1985 harvest they worked together. In 1988, Andrée received one hectare of vines from her grandfather Charles Noëllat’s domaine, which included the important parcels in Romanée St-Vivant, Nuits Boudots and Vosne Beaux Monts.

Although they have been organic since the 1990’s Louis is concerned that the soils are still not in the best of health, so he is trying grassing over – but is concerned that this can mean competition for the vines and lower yields. In general he’s trying to improve biodiversity in the vineyards, but says that they are going at it by feel, with small changes to see what works – a very practical hands-on approach. He spends 80% of his time tending the vines, and is working to make the plants more resistant to disease and rot.

In the Vineyard

Belonging to the new generation of Burgundian’s their philosophy is ‘biologique’ and their vineyards are ploughed by horse. Although they have been organic since the 1990’s Louis is concerned that the soils are still not in the best of health, so he is trying grassing over – but is concerned that this can mean competition for the vines and lower yields. In general he’s trying to improve biodiversity in the vineyards, but says that they are going at it by feel, with small changes to see what works – a very practical hands-on approach. He spends 80% of his time tending the vines, and is working to make the plants more resistant to disease and rot.

In the Winery

In recent years their son Louis joined the business adding another exciting dynamic. Since Louis has taken over the winemaking there have been some changes, but as they have no fixed ‘recipe’ it is hard to be precise – the levels of new wood seem to have dropped slightly, and like a lot of growers Louis has used some whole-bunch fermentation, softer handling of fruit, and a power sulphur regime. On the whole they are relatively early pickers, and the wines have a generous depth of fruit.

The 2020 Vintage at Jean-Jacques Confuron

“Louis Confuron noted that “the key aspect to appreciate about the 2020 growing season was just how dry it was. Together with the heat, maturities arrived quite early, and we began picking on the 22nd of August, or just short of three weeks earlier than 2019 and one month later than 2021! The fruit was clean, but yields were definitely on the short side as the heat basically dried out the berries such that there just wasn’t much juice in them. Potential alcohols were about the same as in 2019, which is to say that they ranged from a low of 13% to a high of 13.8%. I did a short cuvaison of only around 10 days as the skins were extremely thick from the hot and dry conditions, so it was important not to exact too much. Interestingly, there is excellent acidity, which is not always the case with very hot vintages. Stylistically, I prefer my 2019s today as they’re more elegant but in 10 years, I might well change my mind as the 2020s are definitely built-to-age.” Note that the 2020s were bottled between October 2021 and January 2022 using the Diam brand composite cork. I would add that there are several excellent wines in the line-up and in particular the Chambolle 1er and the RSV. Lastly, the Vosne Beaux Monts was not presented though one was bottled.”

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where in the World is Jean-Jacques Confuron?

Jean-Jacques Confuron is located in Premeaux-Pressey just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges. They have holdings in Nuit-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and Vougeot.