Winemaker Notes
Complex bouquet of red and black berries with spicy and slightly oaky notes. Dazzling elegance on the palate, with a perfect blend of finesse and raciness. Very good ageing potentia. Pair with Red meat dishes, roasted or in sauce, game birds, medium-flavored cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
An intense, vibrant red, offering an immediate impact of ripe, fresh cherry, strawberry, rose, spice and mineral flavors. Fruity, open and seamless, this almost seems a bit too simple, yet continues to build in intensity to an long, pure and saturated aftertaste. Best from 2022 through 2038. 50 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru comes from 0.5-hectare of vine in two parcels at the top and bottom of the vineyard that are vinified together. It has a beautifully composed bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit with rose petals and bergamot tea emerging with time in the glass. The palate is well balanced with veins of candied orange peel on the opening, the new oak (40%) needing some time to be subsumed, but lending good weight on the confit-like finish. Give it 3-4 years in bottle and it should evolve into a fine Clos Vougeot.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
From two parcels, one high and the other low, vinified together. The plump black cherry nose is surprisingly open and perfumed. Rich and weighty on the palate, the tannins are modest though very ripe. They underpin solid, brooding dark fruits and spice.
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.”
Containing the largest Grand Cru in all of the Côte d’Or, Vougeot, the village, takes its name from the small stream flowing through it, called Vouge. Over three quarters of the village retains Grand Cru status, and a single vineyard at that: Clos de Vougeot (or simply, Clos Vougeot). Its mass—over 50 ha—retains the single name chiefly for historic reasons.
But today, Clos de Vougeot contains over 80 owners and shows significant soil and slope variations within its boundaries. The top, bordering Musigny and Grands Echezeaux, is calcareous and gravelly on oolitic limestone and exhibits wonderful drainage. The middle sections are limestone, gravel and clay with less of a slope. The lower part has little slant and is mostly made of clay. Historically the diverse parcels were blended but today the abundance of owners means that everyone has his own style. Exploring and understanding them is part of the allure of Clos de Vougeot.
In general a fine Clos de Vougeot when young will be dense and dark but juicy, with a pronounced austerity, and needs a good ten years to bring it to its full potential.