Winemaker Notes
The wine shows aromas and flavors of red berries, herbs, and purple flowers. The palate is rich with ripe fruit and medium weight with bright acidity and fine tannins. Aging in 40-70% new Burgundian pièce brings notes of vanilla, toast, and baking spices. Red Burgundy might be the world’s most flexible food wine. The wine’s high acidity, medium body, medium alcohol, and low tannins make it very food-friendly. Red Burgundy, with its earthy and sometimes gamey character, is a classic partner to roasted game birds, grilled duck breast, and dishes that feature mushrooms, black truffles, or are rich in umami.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
...A deeper dense purple, with a serious concentration of fruit here. The advantage of the vines which were less ravaged. Then darker fruit, almost a chocolate nose, a little foursquare as per its terroir, small waves of darker fruit coming through behind, a dark plum for example, then an evenly balanced finish between fruit, tannin and acidity. Drink from 2030-2040.
Barrel Sample: 93-96 -
Wine Spectator
An elegant style, with a cherry and raspberry core shaded by smoky oak, spice and mineral flavors. Juicy midpalate, showing persistence and intensity through the long, kaleidoscopic finish. Delivers exquisite balance and structure.
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Vinous
The 2021 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru has a very perfumed sensual bouquet with pure red berry fruit, roses and light sous-boisscents that unfold temptingly with aeration. The palate has lighter tannins but feels fresh and tensile. There is some reduction, especially on the blood orange-infused finish, though its refreshing quality is to be admired. Rating: 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.”
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.