Winemaker Notes
Upon release, the Clos Vougeot Grand Cru presents itself with a ruby color and purple tints. The nose shows aromas of red fruit, spices and a touch of woodiness. The palate reveals great structure with a delicate and long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Three of five barrels of Gambal’s 2005 Clos Vougeot are from a parcel high up and against the wall of the Clos and Grands Echezeaux (and three of five are new, too). Roasted meat and blackberry aromas lead into a bright, slightly tart, undeniably concentrated mouthful of black fruits backed by persistent, charred meatiness, alkaline mineral notes, and a chewy load of tannins.
Barrel Sample: 91-92
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
The origin of perhaps the world’s very finest Pinot Noir, Côte de Nuits is the northern half of the Côte d'Or and includes the famous wine villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux and Nuits-St-Georges.
Fine whites from Chardonnay are certainly found in the Côte de Nuits, but with much less frequency than top-performing reds made of Pinot noir. The little village of Nuits-St-Georges in its southern end gave the region its name: Côte de Nuits. The city of Dijon marks its northern border.