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.
Domaine Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot pairs beautifully with duck breast or beef tenderloin, highlighting its powerful structure, earthy complexity, and refined tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2023 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru has a very succinct bouquet. It's one of the cuvées from Grivot with what feels like darker fruit than others. This is beautifully defined, with hints of sea cave/oyster shell and a dash of black pepper that manifests with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied and velvety smooth, with pliant tannins, moderate depth and orange rind, blood oranges and a hint of cardamom toward the finish. This is quite a complex Clos de Vougeot that should age with style.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Jasper Morris
Mid crimson. A certain weight to the fruit but nothing flamboyant on the nose. This is tight on the palate too, predominantly strawberry fruit with some liquorice behind and more evident tannins, though nothing harsh. Drink from 2034-2044. Tasted Nov 2024.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
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.